Mass Relays and Stargates
by PhoenixHunter
Summary: Fourteen years since the return of the Aurora and Girty Lou, with the Arrival of the Refugees of the Twelve Colonies of Kobol. A new mission has begun for the Colonial/Aurora child Laura, her Sangheili XO Rtas and the crew of Truth's Light.
1. Chapter 1

Commanding Officer's Log:  
Local Calendar Date: Unknown  
GRA Calendar Date: 27-03-07 x 07:13:31

_It has been seven weeks now into our survey of this galaxy in our neighboring galactic group and I am starting to wonder if the ships that Ark Roanoke picked up in the galactic void are natives of this galaxy or another civilization planning to colonize this region of space. So far we have found no signs of interstellar civilization despite the energy emissions that we have detected during the survey. When I first received my orders to take command of the Icarus class Fast Attack Frigate Truth's Light, I was giddy; I had for the last eight years wanted to command a ship of the Star Forces like others in my family. When I first received orders to report to the Supreme Commander of my assigned Task Force I was afraid that I had done something wrong or that a member of my family had been lost. Unlike with other members of the Star Forces all of my immediate family served in the Star Forces, my sister Annalisa is a scientist on one of the few Destiny class Deep Space Explorers that last I heard is in the Kobol Galaxy Group mapping and laying out a series of Stargate Networks._

_My eldest sister Morganna serves about the HMS Queen's Hope as one of the top combat surgeons in the Medical Corps. At the time the Queen's Hope was operating out of the Tollan Home Fleet, which is located deep within allied territory; so Morganna should be safe and sound. My bother Myrddin works in Research and Design in Sol-Terra out of the Jupiter Station near Io working on ship design; he takes after our father's loving of creating and in fact at the time I had received my orders had just finished building Truth's Light. That left the my mother and father, both whom I am certain were perfectly fine; especially considering that they both serve on the flag ship of the First Fleet and the Task Force that I am assigned to the Aurora. So many things passed through my mind during the Jumper flight from Titan's Forge to the Aurora; I had been serving as Quartermaster XO for the past thirteen months since my promotion to captain. Unlike some of my friends from the Academy who celebrated their promotions with colleges, I had celebrated with my family and it was easy enough considering that when I received my promotion I was reassigned from Starbase duty to a ship in none other than the First Task Force of the First Fleet._

_I am shaken from my thoughts by the pilot announcing our final approach; looking around I notice the Sangheili next to me in a Star Forces uniform. Every since the First Contact Sangheili war and the knowledge that the Great Races Alliance have Forerunners as a founding species, more and more Sangheili have joined the Star Forces. I have keep only marginal track of the status of the Sangheili request to join the GRA as a full member; every time I have asked my father, his response has been "The Sangheili wish to join for all the wrong reasons; the Council knows this and when the Sangheili truly see the Forerunners as equals and not gods will they be allowed full entry and gain their seat on the Council." To me it makes no sense, why do the Sangheili see the Forerunners as gods; but then again for over four thousand years the Twelve Colonies of Kobol had done the same with the Lanteans. I decide to introduce myself and asked if I could like his name; he looked at me for a moment when he noticed my rank immediately replied with his rank and name. I laughed at the look on his face when I asked him to ignore my rank; I guess that the officers he has worked with like formal interactions._

_We spent the remaining time talking a little; when we landed we both had to report to the Supreme Commander's Office. I remember the meeting like it was only yesterday; oddly enough both of my parents were present along with none other than the Sangheili representative Thel 'Vadam himself. Both Rtas and I stood at attention and saluted; we stood at attention until the Supreme Commander told us to stand at ease. It was then that we received our new orders; the two of us were to be assigned to the new Icarus class ship the Truth's Light, First Lieutenant Rtas 'Vadam as ship XO and myself Captain Laura Mazikowski as ship CO. To say that we were both surprised would be an understatement; Rtas perhaps was more than ready to be a ship XO, but me, I was more than certain I was no where near ready to be a ship XO let alone CO. Before I could protest the Commander explained that if and when a combat situation would arise the Rtas and I would work together as needed, but for the most part combat was predicted to be near zero in possibility during the mission ahead of us and that my analytical skills would be want is needed most. The assignment is to investigate the strange energy emissions being detected by Ark Roanoke from the neighboring galactic group secondary core galaxy; we also learned that a fleet had been detected in the galactic void between the core galaxies of the neighboring group, but a Titan class ship would be assigned to monitor the unknown fleet. After receiving our orders a nod between the Commander and Sangheili Representative was all the warning we had before Rtas and I were pounced by my mother; she dotted over the two of us, saying how proud she is of me and how she was certain Rtas' mother is as well. That day Rtas and I learned we are more alike then we first though when I learned that Representative Thel 'Vadam is Rtas' father and Rtas learned that our Supreme Commander is my father._

_Anyway I need to get something to eat before the start of my shift._

_Captain Laura Mazikowski  
__Commanding Officer of Truth's Light  
__First Task Force of the First Fleet, Galactic Star Forces_

As I shutdown my terminal, I think about what I will say in my vid-letter to Mom and Grandma; knowing Dad he will prefer to hear if I have found any love interest over hearing tactical reports despite always going over any report with a fine tooth comb like any high ranking officer should. I grab my uniform jacket from the back of my chair and slip it on as I walk out my door heading for the small mess we have on board. I consider the crew and myself lucky to be assigned to a ship of the new Icarus class design; big brother really did take advantage of the haul's design to give us as much room as possible. Normally a ship that is barely a hundred meters long would have hot bunking for even command officers and with a crew of nearly forty, Rtas and myself would have to share not only a rack but also an office and command chair. In the past the Icarus class would not operate beyond a range of three hundred light years from at least a Daedulas class Battlecruiser; but as time goes on and we meet other sentient races designed adapt some new are made and some old are pushed aside.

Just as I reach the mess, I see Rtas at the end of our normal table with what appears to be my breakfast in front of his; moving to join him the smell of fresh coffee waltzes up my nose. Taking a seat he hands a cup of hot coffee to me, "Bless you" and just as quickly I sip some down to help me wake up; how my father can operate without morning coffee I will never know. "Morning Laura, I take it that you were recording your log this morning" Rtas give me his I am right smile when I nodded to him. Since the start of our mission over twenty nine weeks ago, he and I have become good friends; I surprised him when I told him about being born on Gemenon, he told me it was hard to fathom that I was born over fifty million light years from what we both considered our home galaxy. We both had grown up for at least apart of our lives on ships; for me it was the Aurora during the seven years it took for the fleet to travel between Kobol and Earth. Rtas told me about growing up in the fleet between Sangheilos and New Sangheilos; that was something we had in common with our past and childhoods. For Rtas his people had lost their world when the system primary had lost the ability to maintain fusion and went dark causing the surface of Sangheilos to be covered in ice. For me, it was when the Cylons destroyed the Colonies of Kobol and the Aurora helped lead and protect the survivors to humanities ancestral home-world. We both had grown up on ships that were apart of a fleet containing the remains of a once great civilization; but with Rtas, his people did not have FTL flight and for at least three Sangheili generations traveled space looking for a new home.

That was something that hit me the hardest and one of the things that ended the First Contact war with the Sangheili so quickly; when the people of the colony that the Sangheili had been attacking learned that their world was the first the Sangheili could colonize are living in space ships for nearly four hundred years, it was like a near reversal of the conflict up until that point. The colonists in a unified decision had immediately asked the Star Forces to request that the Sangheili surrender by landing as many ships as possible on the planet and help colonize the surface. Rtas told me about how all of the adults of the fleet found it odd that for nearly three weeks they had fought against such resistance to take the planet so that they can have a new home, but then to suddenly have the terms of surrender be that they had to colonize the world they had been fighting to take procession of with all they had; it scared them. That was when our fathers first meet each other, Rtas had seen my father inform the Sangheili leadership that the reason for the sudden change was when a Sangheili whom had been captured by the locals informed them of the loss of Sangheilos; the local population felt the need to help the Sangheili find a new home, something they had to do themselves barely over a decade before and since the Sangheili were using non-lethal means had made the decision to welcome the Sangheili all the easier.

During our track to this galaxy, we traded stories about our respective childhoods and our parents; Rtas was short of an outcast among his peers after colonizing New Sangheilos. He never revered the Forerunners as gods; of course his father never did either, both revered the Forerunners as an advanced civilization that was more than likely long gone. Of course when his peers back on New Sangheilos learn that he is working with a Forerunner's daughter, I laughed saying he is going to have to beat them off with a stick. Rtas' face became pale at the thought of what would happen when that happens. "So Rtas, are you ready to look at that object at the system rim just inside the Oort cloud? It appears to be apart of the reason for this mission after all." Giving me a bald look "I think so, but I have to wonder who built it and put it at the edge of the system. Of course the real question is what is it suppose to do, is it a communications relay or a space station or is it an Ark to hold the remains of a civilization?" I shrug my shoulders in response, what ever it is out there at the system rim, and it is going to be the first real clue to the whole mission.

We finish breakfast in silence and make our way to the bridge; unlike the Icarus class of the past, our bridge is located roughly twenty meters into the ship from the bow. Our bow being design with a breaching ram so we can delivery marines into an enemy ship using the PVS (Phase-Shift Vibration System) Armor means that the first fifteen meters has to lack ship systems. Stepping onto the bridge "Corporal, set course for the object we detected on the system rim and I want to transverse the distance in normal space." Our helm officer acknowledges the order and we bring our normal space track to the unknown object; while we transverse the distance we can scan the area to ensure that we do not get caught off guard.

Roughly half an hour later we have reached our destination and begin a full survey scan of the object; for some strange reason looking at it reminds me of a Light Speed Doughnut used to launch the Destiny class ships into deep space. To that end I asked our resident AI named Bob to compare the data from the sensors to the known information about the LSD that we have back home. After nearly three hours of scanning the object and comparing the sensor data, we come to the conclusion it is the native version of a space ship based Stargate. Just as I was about to order a sensor sweep to locate other gate units Bob looks startled for a moment before looking at me, "Captain, I just picked up a distress call from the neighboring star cluster. What appears to be a human colonized world is under attack by unknown forces and they are being overrun." Not even thinking I order Bob to provide the helm with the world's coordinates and order our helm officer to get us there in order to help.

Breaking off from the gate unit, we dive into hyper-space; during the track to our new destination I look at Rtas his only answer to my silent question is to put a hand on my shoulder and nod. I am glad he agrees with me that helping people is more important at the moment; Rtas turns and beings barking orders to have the three marine teams on board to prepare for combat drops, what I wouldn't give to have a Spartan on board right now. The Spartans were our answer to the Gou'ld Super Soldier, but unlike the ones fielded by the Gou'ld our Spartans are volunteer only and had to be the best of the best to even make the cut; for us to have a Spartan on board was thought to be overkill. Just as the marines confirm ready for drop, we emerge into normal space to see two ships in the planet's atmosphere; the first one appears to be insectoid in appearance and nearly one kilometer in over all length, the other more along the lines of an Icarus class but its length is barely thirty meters for the main body. As we slow to drop speeds the comm. Officer signals me "Ma'am we have a connection from the smaller ship." "Put it through to my station Corporal" and not sparing a moment the holo-screen display what can easily pass for a Human.

_I am Captain Anderson of the SSV Normandy to unknown ship, identify your self immediately are you with the force attacking Eden Prime?_

"Captain Anderson, I am Captain Mazikowski of the Star Forces ship Truth's Light; we are here answering the distress call sent from this planet. I take it from your question that this is one of your colonies?"

_That is correct Captain, I don't know who these Star Forces are but if you are willing to help I will gladly take the offer._

"Okay, than I think the first thing we should do is contact the other ship here in the atmosphere that is hovering over what appears to be a space-port and have them withdraw their forces."

_What ship? We haven't detected any ships over the space-port?_

Before I could confirm that they have been unable to detect the other ship the comm. Officer signaled that the marines are calling in, "Please standby Captain, our marines on the ground are calling in. I will have you patched so you can listen to their report." I order the connection opened so that Captain Anderson can hear as well, "Marines report."

"_Ma'am this is Team-1 we just encounter one of the galactic natives, he calls himself a Specter with the name Nihlus Kryik. There was another with him that he has identified as Saren Arterius, when we showed up this Saren guy had his sidearm trained on Nihlus and might have fired if we had not called out to identify ourselves. The moment they saw us, this Saren opened fire; I have to admit that he is a good shot, he managed to hit me center mass but my armor held out. Before we could return fire he withdrew to another location, we called in for orders to; standby, shit marines go hot. Ma'am we have company standby"_

The sounds of P-90 rounds firing filled the comm. channel for a few moments, while that was happening we confirmed that the unknown ship was withdrawing. When the shooting final stopped the marines resume communication.

"_Sorry about that Ma'am, something that Nihlus has identified as Husks attacked our position; managed to get them pined in a cross fire with the help from Team-2 and some local marines under the command of a John Shepard stationed out of the Normandy. Team-3 is with a group of civvies at the moment, Shepard and Nihlus want to push forward to the space-port something about a beacon."_

Looking to the holo-screen with the channel to Captain Anderson, "Captain, did you get all that?"

_I did, we're lucky you came to answer the distress call; I don't want to think about what would have happened to Nihlus had your marines not shown up when they did. Can you have your marines accompany Nihlus and Commander Shepard to the beacon and secure it; we should be able to land at the space-port in about ten minutes._

"I will have my marines provide assistance until both our ships have landed." Captain Anderson nods and the channel is closed. "Marines, until we land you are to assist Commander Shepard and Mister Kryik."

"_Confirmed Ma'am, see you when you reach ground side Team-1 out."_

After the channel to the marines is closed I order the helm officer to bring us in for landing at the space-port near the marines. It takes us about six minutes to reach the port and land, during that time the marines called back in for a medic for Commander Shepard. Wasting no time our medic team and I disembark and meet up with the marines, the medics immediately begin working on Commander Shepard. After a quick report from the marine Sergeants, I turn to one of the native non-humans "Captain Laura Mazikowski of Truth's Light." The being took my offered hand and replied "Nihlus Kryik, Citadel Council Spectre. I want to thank you for coming to aid Eden Prime, had it not been for your men I might not be alive; I did not expect Saren to be a traitor." Just as I was about to respond the Normandy came in for a landing; we agreed to continue after meeting with Captain Anderson. With the Normandy now on the ground we approached the opening bay ramp; at the top stood Captain Anderson two what appeared to be marines and a woman with slightly graying hair. Captain Anderson was the first to reach the bottom of the ramp, "Nihlus, good to see that you're okay. Where is Commander Shepard?" I moved forward "He was injured and is being treated on Truth's Light, there was some kind of energy surge from the beacon you are here to secure and Commander Shepard was hit by the shock wave." The woman stepped forward, "I am Doctor Chakwas, I want to see him." I signal one of my nearby marines, "Of course, a marine will take you to him." Both my marine and the doctor nodded and then headed off to the Truth; turning back to Captain Anderson and Nihlus, "Perhaps we should talk?"

Both of them agreed and Captain Anderson started, "Captain, I want to thank you again for your help. Who knows what Saren would have done had you and your marines not arrived when you did. But I would like to know more about this Star Forces that you are apart of, you are clearly human." "I agreed with Captain Anderson, you appear human but I have not heard of this Star Forces from any world in the Human Systems Alliance." I look to both Nihlus and Captain Anderson, "I can answer some of your questions and obviously any thing classified is off limits. Is that okay with the both of you?" Both of them agree and I offer that we continue on our discussion on the Truth; with the three of us in agreement we move to the Truth. During our approach Captain Anderson whistled, "Big ship to be capable of landing on a planet." Shaking my head, "The Truth is an Icarus class Fast Attack Frigate with a standard length of ninety-seven point eight meters and a standard crew of thirty-nine with fifteen of those being marines for surface combat deployment." As we step inside the rear landing bay, Nihlus looked around during our brief walk to the hatch leading further into the ship; reaching my office I offer them both a seat. "Captain Mazikowski, I am surprised that you have so much room on board; normally Zero Element Drive Cores would take up over half your ship's internal space." I looked at Nihlus for a moment and then "I am unsure what this Zero Element you're talking about is, but our Engineering is the entirety of the Truth's only other deck just below us." Both of them looked confused, but before either could speak Rtas knocked and entered the office and this caused both Captain Anderson and Nihlus to stare at me then Rtas and then back again.

After a few minutes Captain Anderson was able to ask "Captain, why is there an alien on board your ship?" For a moment I was confused but answered "This is First Lieutenant Rtas 'Vadam, my XO; I guess you don't have multi-species ships in your alliance." Both nodded their heads while Rtas took to standing behind me, I decided to ask "Do your peoples have a unified government or separate governments?" Nihlus answered for the two, "Both with each race having its own government and then there is the Citadel Council that handles galactic affairs that affect all races within Citadel space. Such is the case with the Prothean beacon here on Eden Prime. Do you have a unified government?" I looked at Rtas then back as I answered, "Yes and no; for the majority of our home region, a good example is the relationship between the Sangheili and the GRA. The GRA, the Great Races Alliance is a unified government for over seven member species, with each having a seat on the Supreme Council and each world having a seat in the General Assembly. The Sangheili have a seat in the General Assembly, but not a seat on the Supreme Council due to the fact that they are not a member species at this time; they have a voice in our government because they live within our territory of their own free will. There are other species within our territory, but they do not have a voice within our government due to a few different reasons. The main being that their respective world has yet to either develop space flight or use the Stargate, the other primary reason is because they do not want a part of our government and so their given area is marked as their territory that is within our own territory."

Deciding to find out what this Zero Element is, "Can you tell me what this Zero Element is all about and why it would be needed for a ship to be able to land?" Captain Anderson leans forward and responds, "Zero Element is a material used to generate Mass Effect fields. Any Engineer within Citadel Space can tell you more than I can, but what I can tell you for certain is that every ship of every race uses Zero Element cores." Before we could continue we are paged to come to Medical because of Commander Shepard's status; nodding in silent agreement we move to Medical. Quickly reaching Medical we find both CMO's looking over the med scanner display while a man that I presume is Commander John Shepard is on the med-bed having what appears to be a nightmare. On either side are two people, one a man wearing black armor and the other a woman in white and red armor; the woman looks up from Shepard to the two CMO's "Doctor, isn't there anything you can do for him?" "I'm sorry, but I have never seen anything like this before. I am at a loss as to how to help Commander Shepard." Doc Cottle sighed, "Actually because of my work with Heindol, I have a fairly good idea what is happening to him. Unfortunately Doctor Chakwas is correct that we can't do anything to help him."

Walking up to the doctors, "Doc, what is Commander Shepard's status?" The old Colonial Major, who I had come to know during my childhood, turned to look at me before he dug out a cigarette and gave it a quick tap to light it. "Nice to know you care about the newest brat to enter my Life Station," I leveled a stare at him; despite him still having the rank of Major, we both know that I was given command and that as CMO he can relieve me of duty if need be. "Okay, look the brat here basically had what ever data was in this 'beacon' downloaded directly into his head. I am not certain about when he will wake up, but he will and with a headache to boot; but the reason I called you down here is to get these two grunts out of my Life Station, Doctor Chakwas can stay for now, but I want the others out. And don't think for a moment that I forgot about any of those stunts you pulled as a child young lady, now get these grunts out." I shake my head and look to Captain Anderson silently asking him to order to two marines out of Medical; turning to the two by the med-bed Captain Anderson ordered them out. The male now identified as Alenko saluted and exited after a quick glance to Commander Shepard; the woman stood and saluted while identifying herself as Gunnery Chief Ashley Williams and also left Medical with us just behind her.

As I am the last one to leave Medical, I see Doctor Chakwas jump back slightly when Doc Cottle called for Bob; I guess they don't use AI's or holo-tech much. Rejoining Captain Anderson, Nihlus and Rtas, it is decided that for the moment we should remain on the planet; "Captain Mazikowski, I must report to the Citadel Council and inform them of Saren's betrayal. I would also suggest that you accompany us back to the Citadel in order for the Council to fully understand and accept that Saren is a traitor; also I am certain that the Council will want to meet with you considering that you represent an unknown multi-race government." Looking at Rtas for a moment, we both agree; "That sounds agreeable, so can you provide us with coordinates to our destination and how long it will take in FTL flight?" Captain Anderson and Nihlus look at one another for a moment and than Captain Anderson answered, "We will use the Mass Relays, using standard FTL would take decades if not centuries to which the Citadel that way. It is over three thousand light years from here." That left me and Rtas confused, these people had a slow form of FTL and something called the Mass Relay that they used for FTL flight. Deciding to ask "What is the Mass Relays, is it some form of FTL flight booster used to transverse larger distances that your normal FTL is unable to handle within a relative amount of time?"

They both looked at me and Rtas, obviously confused by my question about these Mass Relays and what they are; Nihlus recovered first and "Where are you from not to know about the Mass Relays? Better question, how do you travel between star clusters within your life times?" Thinking about it carefully, it is not like I am telling them exactly where we are from and the information is not classified; so "We use our primary FTL method of either hyper-space drives or the Stargate Network for interstellar and inter-galactic travel. We were sent from our home galaxy on a mission to investigate strange energy emissions that have been detected in this galaxy; we left space-dock nearly eight months ago and have been in this galaxy performing surveys for about seven weeks now." The two just stared at us for roughly a minute before they both said in unison, "You're from another galaxy?" I nod affirmative and wait for them to respond; I guess this is there first inter-galactic first contact, I wish dad was here to deal with this.

* * *

**Next Time: The Citadel Council and Hyper-space Drives**

In the next chapter the crew of Truth's Light is going to meet the Citadel Council and the Council is going to learn that not only is the Truth an inter-galactic capable ship, but that humans have been seeded across multiple Galactic Groups by the Forerunners/Ancients/Lanteans


	2. Chapter 2

A Note to Readers: Don't worry about how I feel when you write a review; I prefer that you be honest so that future chapters and stories are better written for those who read them.

* * *

**The Citadel Council and Hyper-space Drives**

For several minutes we stood there, both Captain Anderson and Nihlus had remained in a state of shock after learning that we had been sent here on our mission from another galaxy. After about four minutes they seemed to begin to stir from their shocked state, Nihlus was the first to form a whole statement by asking "How is it possible? Interstellar travel is hard enough without the use of the Mass Relays; how are you capable of inter-galactic travel when we can barely travel fast enough for interstellar travel?" I looked to Rtas and silently asked if he could explain it to our shocked guests, he nodded to me and then looked at Nihlus and Captain Anderson.

"The first thing you should know is that both of our primary means of FTL flight takes us out of normal space. In fact both the Hyper-Drive and Stargate systems use the subspace strata to achieve faster than light transit thus altering the equation of FTL physics on the base level. I will begin with how the hyper-drive works; when we activate our hyper-drive, we tear open a passage into the subspace strata and enter a layer known as Hyperspace. This layer of space-time is for one, physically smaller than normal space and as thus objects such as stars and planets are physically closer to one another. This is one part of the equation, the next is that inside of the subspace strata at any level the gravitational affects of normal space are not as pronounced as they are normally." Looking at them both Rtas gives them a few moments to process what he has just told them before continuing with his explanation.

Nihlus in a moment of understanding pointed out to us, "What you are doing is basically the same as the Zero Element Drive Core does; you use an energy field to adjust your mass to allow for faster speeds." Rtas shrugged his shoulders before responding, "Basically yes, but it is more involved and your ZE Drive tech does basically the same as our M/I Shields. The M/I Shields short for Mass and Inertia Shield system that lowers our overall mass to near zero; these shields are apart of our standard drive system. Our ships need to be able to perform maneuvers that any ship without an M/I Shield even with what we call Inertial Dampeners would tear itself apart attempting to achieve. Due to this design our M/I Shields are active when ever we are in flight; this is true weather we are in FTL or not."

This time it was Captain Anderson who voiced his thoughts, "Do you know what you have done? Every race within Citadel space is going to what access to your drive technology, and especially the M/I Shields. You have achieved something every civilization in this galaxy has been trying to do for god only knows how long." Both Rtas and I looked at him blankly before Nihlus filled in the missing information for us with, "Captain, Lieutenant; your people have found a means of generating a Mass Effect field without the use of the Zero Element. Due to the rarity of Zero Element itself, the construction of drive cores for ships is prohibitory high; just to construct a fighter roughly five meters in length would cost in the tens of thousands of credits for just the drive core." Now Rtas and I are starting to understand why they are surprised by some of the things we consider normal when it comes to our ship.

Deciding to ask them myself, "So when you said it would take decades to centuries to reach this Citadel with FTL. So I am guessing that your FTL technology uses Zero Element as the base and that you are limited in speed because you need to generate enough power to create the Mass Effect field." Nihlus nodded his head and responded "Correct, and because our means of power generation we can only generate so much energy to produce the fields around our ships. Meaning the bigger the ship and bigger the power generation costs as thus affect the Mass Effect field due to the increased mass of the ship." To Rtas and me, this sounds like an early version of Warp drive tech used by the people of the Delphic Nebula.

Thinking along those lines caused an idea to pops into my head; it was Rtas that managed to ask "So then the Mass Relays manage to provide a boost of energy to your Mass Effect field to allow the ship high grade FTL velocities and you use a Mass Relay at the destination to slow down and ensure you do not over shoot the target." Both Captain Anderson and Nihlus confirm our theories about what we now know of the Mass Relays; it does explain apart of the strange energy emissions coming form this galaxy. Nihlus continued with "We are uncertain about how the Mass Relays operate beyond the FTL flight and communications that they provide, but that is fairly accurate way to explain how they work." 'They are uncertain of how these relays work?' Looking at them I ask "How can you not know how they operate, didn't your peoples build them?"

Again it was Nihlus who answered, "No, the Relays were here long before any of our peoples knew how to make fire let alone travel into space. The Mass Relays and the Citadel were created by an ancient race known as the Protheans; their civilization spanned this galaxy until fifty thousand years ago when they went extinct for some unknown reason. In fact all of our current technology is based on the Prothean ruins from around the galaxy; Mass Effect fields are a Prothean technology that each of our races have learned about from Prothean ruins." Okay, this is odd but not unheard of; case and point is the Sangheili but still something worth investigating.

"If neither of you mind, I am going to ask for a science vessel to be dispatched to perform a full survey on one of the Mass Relays. We will be more than willing to share what ever data we discover with your governments." Both Nihlus and Captain Anderson take a moment before saying that we will have to discuss this with the Citadel Council. I understand their need to have this agreed upon by government leaders; I decide to mention, "I will also send a request during our next data burst to home for any information in our networks on the Protheans. It might take sometime considering that the people back home will have to shift through over fifteen million years worth our records and information, but hopefully we will have something to offer you in that regard." Again both of our guests appear to be shocked senseless for some strange reason, I wonder if it is something I am doing.

This time Captain Anderson sputtered a response, "Did you say fifteen million years?" I nodded in the affirmative and once again they were both silent until Nihlus managed to speak. "Captain Mazikowski, are you telling us that your civilization has been present for nearly fifteen million years?" Shaking my head, "No, not our current civilization; our current civilization is barely a few decades old. Some of the member races have perhaps a few hundred thousand years of space-faring history, such as the Asgard and the Sangheili. It is the Lanteans who are also known as the Ancients or Forerunners, whose civilization and history can be tracked into the tens of millions of years; even further into the billions of years if you include the time they spent as a wondering species across the universe." The look that they gave us this time said that they did not want to believe us; personally it does not matter to me if they believe us or not, but if we have some information on these Protheans then that is all the better.

We had strayed off topic in regards to our FTL methods and so "We strayed off topic and for that we apologize, perhaps we should resume our discussion about the hyper-drive technology?" Captain Anderson appeared to contemplate while Nihlus decided that he needed to report to the Council and dismissed himself to return to the Normandy in order to use the FTL communications on board. I ordered a marine to escort Nihlus off the ship and turned back to Captain Anderson; the look on his face told me that he wanted something.

We did not have to wait long as Captain Anderson took a breath and asked "Captain, can you tell me about your firearms technology? It appears to be different from the norm and I was wondering if you used Mass Effect fields for your weapons like we do." This is one discussion I would prefer not to have, but before I could respond from behind us came "They use what looks to be energy based weapons, but like none I have every heard of before." We turn around to find Gunnery Chief Williams and Mister Alenko, Williams continued with "Sir, these people have handheld energy weapons capable of rapid fire. When we reached the docks and found them being attacked by Husks, their shots passed through Kinetic Barriers as if they did not exist. And again when we faced the Geth, any shot fired from their weapons just passed through the Kinetic Barriers and devastated the Geth."

Letting out a sigh, I have to concede to explaining at least the basics if someone who had managed to understand parts about our weapons at a glance in combat. "Chief Williams is correct and incorrect at the same time; the P-90 that you have seen the marines use is our primary field weapon." Looking at Rtas we both nod in agreement that I should explain the P-90 to them; "The P-90 is a Kinetic/Phased Plasma ordnance weapons system; unlike its recent counterpart of the P-93, the P-90 can be switched between Energy and Kinetic based ordnance but can not fire both simultaneously. The P-90 is equipped with Inertial Dampeners to allow for more fire power in the MAC barrel, and this allows for the rounds fired too reach a fraction of light speed without the marine losing their arm in the process." Chief Williams gave me a hard look before patting what appeared to be her sidearm.

Rtas gave a growl at Chief Williams implied threat towards me with her patting her weapon; Williams looked at Rtas with a smirk "Like a growl will scare me Turian, all you aliens are alike thinking you are better then us." Looking back at me she continued "You, how can you stand an alien on your ship watching your every move. You should just be rid of him before he gets you killed and", but before she could go any further Rtas had her against the bulkhead by her throat. Growling, Rtas spoke with a level of angry that I have never seen from him before. "Human, the next time you think of threatening my Commanding Officer in any way I will personally show you the difference between yourself and a Sangheili Warrior." Just after saying this to her, Williams began to blue from lack of air; "Lieutenant, RELEASE her this instant!" Without delay Rtas released Williams and she dropped to the deck gasping for air, all the while Captain Anderson and Mister Alenko appeared to be shocked by both Rtas and Chief Williams.

Looking at Rtas, I can see that he is disgusted by Chief Williams's words and to an extent so am I but I still will have to do something about his actions. "Lieutenant, you are to remain in your quarters as long as our guests are aboard bearing when you are on duty. I am sorry but your actions have consequences and you will have to take responsibility, Dismissed." With a salute in response Rtas turned and left for the bridge, his head down as he left; I feel sorry for him but he knew full well what would happen if he acted without permission. Turning back to our guests I see Chief Williams once more glaring at Rtas, but as she began to smirk Captain Anderson pronounced on her, "Gunnery Chief, you are to report to the Normandy and remain on board in the mess hall until further notice. Dismissed Solder!"

Williams was escorted off the ship shortly after being reprimanded by Captain Anderson, with a heavy sigh he turned back to me "I apologize for what she has done. I want you to know that not all of us hate aliens, but for some it is harder than others; we have been like this since the First Contact War with the Turians in twenty-one fifty-seven." Without hesitation I respond "I fully understand; for me it is the Cylons and what they did to my original home-world. So I can understand on some level how Chief Williams feels, but at the same time I can not and will not have a blind hatred of aliens because of the actions of a few." Captain Anderson looked at me for a moment and then inclined his head "I am glad that you understand where she and others like her are coming from while at the same time taking the moral high ground."

After a few more minutes both Captain Anderson and myself decide to return to our respective commands and that both of our ships will remain here on Eden Prime until Commander Shepard regains consensus or the Citadel Council demands Nihlus' immediate return. As Captain Anderson disembarks, I agree to inform him the moment Commander Sherpard's status changes in any way. After the departure of our guests, I make way for my office; I pull aside one of the Privates and ordered him to have the XO report to my office.

Stepping inside I look to my desk and the Communication Stones; I did not want to inform anyone outside of my crew that we still have real time communications with home. Just as I sit down to retrieve the stones, Rtas enters the room but he refuses to make eye contact with me. "Rtas, I know that you were trying to protect me from what could be considered a threat; but we both know that out here away from home we need to tread lightly. For what it is worth I am sorry that I had to pull rank like that, but we need to try not to make enemies of anyone we come across." He looked up at me and with a sigh, "You don't need to apologize, it's my fault; my Sangheilian pride overrode my better judgment. I let you down when you needed me as an Executive Officer instead of a comrade; I won't let that happen again."

I give Rtas a small smile, "Thank you for being worried about me Rtas. I think it is time that we report these new developments to the Supreme Council as mandated in our mission orders." Handing Rtas one of the stones and me taking the other, I turn to the dais unit and activate the system. The next thing I know is nothing but darkness; I have never liked the idea of projecting my mind across the universe to another location.

* * *

**Location: **Milky Way Galaxy – Orion Spiral Arm –Sol-Terra  
**Planet: **Earth  
**City: **New Atlantis  
**Local Time: **19:37:52 of 27-03-07

Within the Central Tower of the two hundred mile wide New Atlantis class city-ship that forms the core of the artificial super continent floating in the Atlantic Ocean, is the center of government for the GRA. The tower is home to the General Assembly which is formed by the representatives of nine hundred plus worlds that have either been colonized or are home-worlds of the member species of the GRA. First there are the Tollan, having officially joined in the GRA calendar year fifteen; it is the Tollan who now make up the majority of the scientists and researchers of the GRA.

The next member species is the Asurans; originally created as a means of fighting the Wraith over ten thousand years ago by the Lanteans of the Pegasus Galaxy, the Asurans developed into a sentient species within a short four years since the conception of the nanite weapon project on planet Asuras. The Asurans officially joined at the end of the seventh year of the current calendar; this occurred due to political upheavals taking place in the Andromeda galaxy and the unknown stance of the Systems Commonwealth. It is noted by historians that the Asurans might not have joined if the Aurora had been present to lead her nine sister ships in a show of force too the Commonwealth and peoples of the Andromeda galaxy.

The next species is the Athosians who were a leading force during the Atlantis Expedition during the earliest years of the GRA's founding. The Athosians represent the human worlds of the Pegasus galaxy in the Supreme Council and are known officially as the fifth member species. The remaining Four species are the founders of the GRA; the forth is the Artificials (AIs, robots, etc.) having been apart of the first Star Forces ships and adding in the creation of hundreds of colonies across the galactic group. The third is the Tua'ri of Earth; the second is the Asgard of the Ida galaxy and the first being the Lanteans themselves.

It was upon the Aurora's return to GRA territory, that the decision to equip all ships with a Lantean/Ori communications stone was made. Due to the limitation of the original design a new control system was designed to allow the travelers to gain a holographic body and their mind be apart of a specially designed mainframe mimicking the Asgard ARK project. This modified design has allowed for travelers to far more readily gain access, since they do not need to wait for a host body to become available to switch places with them; additionally the design change has allowed for travelers to disconnect with a simple verbal command that can be said at any time to their original body.

* * *

Shortly the darkness recedes and I find myself within the Communications Center of New Atlantis' Galactic Star Forces Command. Looking to my left I see Rtas just now shaking himself out of the normal shock of disembodiment that is common with using the Communication Stones. Turning to find one of the normally assigned Ensigns who work in the within this area of Command, "Ensign, I need you to contact General Ronson and Supreme Commander Phoenix of the First Fleet. Use code EXG-171-Alpha, First Contact with multiple space faring civilizations of possibly equal technological development." The Ensign salutes and moves off to follow the order I have just given to him; code EXG representing that the source is extra galactic, with code 171 meaning hostile and friendly contract established with multiple species. The remaining segment, in this case Alpha representing the area of coverage of possible contact; Alpha meaning near galaxy wide, Beta meaning star cluster range, Charlie for stellar system, Delta for planetary system only. The rare Echo code meaning either galactic void or none planet based first contact; the Sangheili during first contact fell under Echo, while the Colonials fall under Charlie.

Calling code Alpha has only been done once before and that was during first contact with the Systems Commonwealth of the Andromeda galaxy. The standard response for when a code Alpha First Contact occurs is an immediate meeting of the Supreme Council and if needed a call for the General Assembly. "Rtas, I hope you are ready for this; we are going to be in probably one of the biggest meetings since the academy." We look at each other for a moment before requesting access to the verbal recorders to provide an update to our mission report that was transmitted early this past week. We end up spending the next three hours updating our reports, while we wait for the Supreme Council to call upon us.

It is fifteen minutes after submitting the new mission updates that we are called to stand before the eight most powerful political members of the GRA. Upon entering the council chambers both Rtas and I find ourselves standing with not only General Ronson and Supreme Commander Phoenix, but there is also former Admiral now General William Adama. Our surprise does not end there, because sitting at the table is not only the Councilors but also Representative 'Vadam with Representatives from the Free Jaffa, the Followers of Origins, the Delphic League and the Trade Alliance Guild. The most surprising is the Vedran the Representative of the Systems Commonwealth from the Andromeda galaxy is present; this means that the next few hours will be just that much more important.

For the next six hours the Council debates the possible ramifications of our report; the most prevailing idea thus far is that we pull out and return home. This motion was put down when information from the Atlantis database revealed a Lantean outpost with a Stargate is present near the Citadel, roughly eight light years rimward and that information that was recovered from the outpost included how the Protheans were hunted to extinction by a machine race called the Reapers. When this was reviled, it was then argued that a fleet be sent to secure the outpost against these Reapers; it was decided that three task forces from First Fleet be assigned the task of not only securing the outpost, but to also provide aid to additional ships that will secure strategic areas if the Citadel Council agrees.

With the meeting now ending I nod to Rtas how logs out of the link and then I turn to my father, "Sir, I will attempt to convince the Citadel Council to allow First Fleet entry into Citadel space." Saluting me, he then relaxes slightly "Laura, right now what I am going to say is not from one officer to another, but from father to daughter. Please be careful, we don't know what might happen in the next four weeks during our deployment. Promise me that you will be careful okay." Nodding "I will daddy; I will see you and mom in about four weeks then. I love you," then standing straight "Sir, see you in four weeks and good luck Sir." With one last salute between us I call out the verbal Logout command and once more my awareness goes black.

* * *

As my awareness returns to me once more I find myself back aboard the Truth; I turn to Rtas "Looks like things have just gotten serious. It looks like we will have to meet with this Citadel Council soon." "Well Ma'am, things have just gotten a little easier." With the confused look on my face, he explains "Commander Shepard has just regained conciseness and seems to have had some kind of vision. More than likely he now has knowledge of the Reapers; he says that we need to report this to the Citadel Council immediately." This might indeed make it easier to gain at least an audience with the Citadel Council.

As agreed I called Captain Anderson and informed him that Commander Shepard had regained consciousness. Not even ten minutes after the call, Captain Anderson and Nihlus had arrived to talk with us and Commander Shepard. The conversation was short, mostly as we did not mention any information that was not already discussed earlier while Shepard had been unconscious. In the end it is agreed that Nihlus would remain aboard the Truth to help us navigate the Mass Relays to reach the Citadel.

It took all of twenty minutes for the remaining marines to return to the Truth and for the Normandy and Truth to clear the ground and make for orbit. Once in orbit, we set course for the Mass Relay; due to the ZE drive as Rtas is calling their engine tech our track to the Exodus Cluster Mass Relay took roughly seventeen hours. During this time the Normandy transmitted star charts to us and Bob 'who had yet to reveal himself to Nihlus', converted and matched the star charts to our system giving us a greater mapping of this galaxy.

Once we reached the Mass Relay, with the data from the Normandy and aid from Nihlus we made our first Mass Relay jump. Coming out of the jump, "Lieutenant Knight, give me a sensor scan of the area." Nihlus shock his head, but the Lieutenant spoke before Nihlus could, "Ma'am I have several objects ahead of us. It looks to be mostly ships of Frigate size, some Battlecruiser and at least one Gunship sized." Nihlus gave a sigh "That would be the Citadel Fleet, the largest fleet ever assembled."

Both Knight and Rtas gave snorts at what Nihlus considered large, while I said nothing one way or the other. The one hundred some odd ships would perhaps be considered half a fleet. Sensors also showed us the Citadel itself; the station is a bit more impressive than the fleet guarding it. What we could detect shows that it is roughly thirteen kilometers wide and forty-five kilometers long and has a gross mass of roughly ten million metric tons. Sensors also show that there are approximately eight million life-signs on board the massive five tier station.

After waiting three minutes the Normandy transitioned through the Mass Relay; with their arrival Nihlus, myself and Team-1 of the marines on board transferred over to the Normandy via Jumper. Prior to leaving Eden Prime, it was agreed that the Truth will remain near the Citadel Mass Relay while the Normandy carry me and some of my marines to the Citadel to meet with the Council.

Our approach to the Citadel was quick compared to the amount of traffic; this was explained when a message for Captain Anderson stated that Ambassador Udina had ensured that we would have priority landing clearance and that we are to immediately report to the Citadel Council. Landing and then marking our way to the Citadel Tower took at least twenty minutes.

We passed what I was told is a C-Sec officer; he appeared to have been arguing with his superior about his investigation into Saren's activities. I paid it little mind, but noted the look on the officer's face as we passed and how he mentioned to Commander Shepard that he believes that Saren is up to something.

As we walked up the remaining stairs to the Council Chambers, I can hear yelling "He is responsible for the attack on Eden Prime. I demand that his Spectre status be revoked before he can cause anymore harm." Reaching the top step I see what has to be one of the Council reply "The investigation has shown no evidence to support your claim. Ambassador, we warned your people about colonizing near the Terminus systems and now you are paying the price for not heeding our warnings."

I see three beings on the other side of the room, the first from my left to right looks like Nihlus and as thus must be the Turian Representative. Next is a blue skinned woman that according to Nihlus is an Asari and the last is a robed being that I have just learned once more from Nihlus is a Salarian. The human ambassador continued yelling for another minute about how Saren should not be allowed to walk away unpunished. Before the Councilors could dismiss the ambassador, I step forward "Perhaps I can be of some assistance in regards to proof of Mister Saren's activities in relation to Eden Prime."

The different Councilors whispered to each other for a moment and then the Turian Representative turned towards us, "Just who are you and want proof do you have about Saren that can support Ambassador Udina's claims." Looking straight at the Councilors, "I am Captain Laura Mazikowski; Galactic Star Forces of the Great Races Alliance and commanding officer of the Icarus class Fast Attack Frigate the Truth's Light. As for the proof, I have brought with me a team of my marines whom had encountered Mister Saren on Eden Prime."

Each of the Councilors looked at me; the Turian with distrust evident in his look, the Asari and Salarian with curiosity. This will more than likely be a long meeting.

* * *

**Next Time: First Contacts, Fights and First Fleet**

Captain Mazikowski has a hard task before her as she tries to convince the Citadel Council that she represents some other than the Systems Alliance. Commander Shepard, Alenko, Williams and Team-1 search the Wards for additional proof of Saren's betrayal after the Council dismisses the Marine Testimony and Video logs provided by the Truth. And back in GRA home space elements of the First Fleet prepare for the mission to join the Truth's Light in Citadel space


	3. Chapter 3

****

First Contacts, Fights and First Fleet

The first to speak after my introduction is the Salarian, "Captain Mazikowski, what form of proof can you provide to aid Ambassador Udina's claims?" I gave Nihlus a glance before turning back to respond "Councilors, Spectre Nihlus is going to upload video footage that Marine Team-1 recorded during their encounter on Eden Prime." With that Nihlus presses a few keys on the terminal next to him and the video display is projected for all to see.

_Passing some trees the image of a cargo dock comes into view, one of the marines holds up a fisted hand. "Sergeant, we have three life-forms by the cargo containers; one human, the other two unknown; they might be natives." In front of the recording view a hand appears with two fingers pointing to the left and the other three straight ahead._

_Immediately the view begins moving towards the docks getting closer to the life-forms present. After getting to a closer look the view shows to beings one facing away for the other; the second has what appears to be a firearm pointed to the head of the first. Suddenly a voice yells out, "Don't be alarmed; we are not hostile" Before more could be said, the one with the firearm turns towards the viewing source and fires three rounds. The image shakes for a moment a voice yells "Saren, what are you doing?" As the image stabilizes there is a second yell "Marines, non-lethal only, switch to Stunner mode."_

As the video playback ends, two of the council members are whispering to each other while the Turian looks at Nihlus and then me with contempt. "You actually expect us to believe this; that could be anyone in the recording." Nihlus shook with rage and yelled out "Councilor, are you blind? That is Saren in the recording with a gun pointed at my head. Had it not been for Sergeant Shaper and his team, I might have been killed by that rogue." I shake my head with a heavy sigh and turn to Nihlus attempting to calm him down.

As Nihlus' rage subsides the Council declares due to the lack of evidence that C-Sec can locate that Saren will not be removed as a Spectre. This has both Ambassador Udina and Nihlus up in arms before they stop and look at each other for a moment. It is during this moment that I decide to act "Councilors, I have another piece of business that I wish to speak with you about." Both Udina and Nihlus glare at me for a moment while the Turian council member told me to speak.

"Members of the Council on behalf of my government, I am requesting permission for elements of the Galactic Star Forces First Fleet to enter Citadel space." Glance back and forth the Asari councilor "Can you describe the fleet size and ships?" With a snort the Turian "Probably no more than ten ships. Humans have always had issues in determining the proper size of a fleet." I snort in response and answer "I have been informed that the First, Eleventh and Thirty-First Task Forces will be deployed. That is a standard seventy-five battle ready ships with four hundred and ten varying combat support ships and roughly seven thousand combat fighters."

The gathered Citadel species gasp at my announcement and the council members look to each other before the Turian member spoke. "Captain, what classes of ships will be involved?" Without pause I answer "Three warships, three flightcarriers, three fleet-tenders and six gunships which are supported by six recon ships, twelve fast attack frigates, twelve standard frigates, eighteen battle-cruisers and six battleships; all of varying classes, with the addition of six science vessels." After another moment I add "Perhaps three hospital ships and a starbase."

The Council members each had their own expression upon their faces. The Turian looked aghast, the Asari looked thoughtful and the Salarian simply asked "What of your ship? Is it included in that number?" I smiled, at least one asked a question and as thus "At this moment no; my ship is slated to replace one of the aging Icarus class ships of the Fifteenth of Fifth Fleet." And once more silence reigned for a few minutes before the Council dismissed us to deliberate on their decision for my request.

We left the Council Chambers and when reaching the bottom of the stairs I am confronted by Ambassador Udina. "Captain, what was that back there? There is no possible way that humanity has constructed a fleet like the one you just described." Before I could speak Captain Anderson gave the Ambassador a hard look and then "Udina, Captain Mazikowski and her crew are not members of the Systems Alliance. I will tell you more in private but for now we should focus on Saren." Nihlus was the next to speak "The Council is ignoring a potential threat to all of Citadel space by not seeing the truth about Saren. We need to find more evidence; evidence that the Council can not ignore that will let us at least strip Saren of resources and Citadel protection."

"Sirs, what about that C-Sec officer that we saw earlier;" Alenko looked at the stairs and then back "The one who was in charge of the investigation into Saren's activities." Looking thoughtful for a moment, Udina looks up "That is a good idea Lieutenant; I will get into contact with Harkin in C-Sec." "Harkin was suspended last month and we need the evidence quickly before Saren can cause anymore harm." Udina and Anderson glared at each other until I stepped forward and "Perhaps if time is truly of the essence that I suggest having Bob find the C-Sec officer in the Citadel systems."

For a moment Udina leveled a glare at me before replying "As long as it can't be traced back to us, I hate to say it but have your officer hack into the Citadel terminals." Nodding in agreement is Captain Anderson and Nihlus; opening a comm. Link back to the Truth. "Rtas, I need Bob to hack into the Citadel mainframe systems to locate some information for me."

_Captain, Bob and I thought you might need some tech support. We have already gained full access on a subspace channel and entry through a back door that has Lantean coding._

Looking to my marines for a moment I turn back to my comm. unit, "What did Bob find?"

_Better question is what did he not find. We have detailed star maps of every Mass Relay within this galaxy, and that includes one located on the Presidium and another on a planet called Ilos. Then there are the numerous communications that have been recorded and logged by these workers called the Keepers. Captain, the Ilos data took Bob nearly eight minutes to reconstruct; the data was heavily damaged for some reason._

Anderson, Nihlus and Udina looked shocked at the report thus far; Alenko and Shepard appeared to be wary and Williams angry more than likely with either me or Bob. Ignoring that, "Can you find any information on the C-Sec officer who was in charge of the Saren Investigation?"

_Already done; his name is Garrus Vakarian. According to what we have he should be down in the Wards near a Medical Clinic by the C-Sec Academy entrance. If the data is correct he should be there about now. There is also something about him confronting a Krogan by the name of Urdnot Wrex, but not much else about his current activities._

"Thank you Rtas, I want Bob to go through the recorded communications from current backwards looking for any mention of Saren, Geth or Eden Prime."

_Confirmed, we will signal you when we have something on our end. Truth's Light out._

Closing the connection I look up to see Williams laying a heavy glare and Sergeant Shaper returning it with his on KI. Ignoring that I turn to Anderson, Nihlus, Udina and Shepard; "So how do you want to run this?" "I suggest that Shepard take a few of our marines, perhaps two of yours with Williams and Alenko, and then make their way to this Garrus." Nihlus quickly agreed with Anderson while Udina said to keep a low profile and not draw attention to ourselves.

Sergeant Shaper was two steps ahead of me when both Corporal Worth and Private Genray stepped forward to join Shepard's team. With that Nihlus moved off to find any information the other Spectres might have while Udina, Anderson and I along with my remaining marines returned to the Human Systems Alliance Embassy.

* * *

Stepping out of the Citadel transport system Wroth and Genray stand with their P-90s at the ready and look to Shepard. "Okay, Alenko you're with Wroth and Williams you're with Genray; okay let's move." With that they move towards one end of the corridor, Genray looks up to see some alien text that his HUD translates into Genii. "I need to thank Bob for the language pack update" mumbled Genray; this causes Williams to look at him. "Let me guess, they taught you how to fight be not how to read?" "I know how to read, just not in the languages here on the Citadel. I doubt that it will be an available neural download until an official agreement is signed between our governments."

Alenko jumps in with "What do you mean by available neural download? Do you guys have some sort of implants that allow you to download information directly into you brain?" Wroth snorted in response with "Nothing as barbaric as that; we have multiple means of transferring data directly into a beings mind. The preferred means available to the public is through optic neural interface." This brought puzzled expressions to Alenko and Williams faces, while Shepard simply said "So pulsating colors just barely in the visible light spectrum to add the information via the eye, right?"

This caused the group to stop and for Alenko and Williams to stare at him, "What, their Doctor Cottle explained it to me after I described the beacon to him." Wroth nodded his head confirming that Shepard is indeed correct and with that the group moved on to the clinic.

Stopping short of the clinic entrance Wroth brought a fisted hand up and Genray stopped in his tracks and brought his P-90 to bear. "Multiple signals inside; most of them are carrying native firearms." Shepard looked to Williams and Alenko while drawing his assault rifle, "How many?" Doing a second quick scan, "Looks to be about nine of them, eight human and one turian; only one is unarmed and the signal shows human."

Alenko looked at Wroth "That must be the clinic doctor and the turian is probably Garrus." Looking to Shepard "So Commander what is the plan?" But before Shepard could respond Wroth and Genray pulled out their M6 sidearms and after setting them to stunner mode, handed them to Williams and Alenko. Looking at Wroth, Alenko asked "Okay, why are you handing me your pistol?"

Not even looking at Alenko, Wroth replied "This will keep collateral damage to a minimum while allowing you to have getter reign of fire." With a silent response Wroth continues "In short you can fire at anything in there and it will only affect organics; so no bullet holes in anything. It is set to stunner mode so it will cause temporary paralysis; it will ware off in about ten minutes." Alenko quickly replaced his rifle on his back and took the M6, while Williams was a bit more hesitant not wanting to trust an unknown weapon with her safety.

Turning to Genray, Wroth spoke "Okay Genray, you have the spec-ops training. Do you think you can get close without being seen?" Genray replied while handing his P-90 to Shepard, "As you Terrains love to say 'Did my grand pappy fight Space Vampires all his life?'" Williams decided to get a barb in by "I guess that you don't…" The rest of her barb died right then as Genray tapped his left elbow and vanished from sight.

Shepard ordered them in before Williams could ask what had just happened; once inside they moved quietly towards the scene in front of them. Garrus was near the wall with his weapon pointed towards the other side of the clinic at a man holding the doctor against himself. Another man at that moment turned to see Shepard and team in the entryway and yelled "Boss more of 'em." The first now pressed the gun to the doctor's head "That's it, back off or the doc here gets it." But before he could carry out his threat the arm holding the gun suddenly pulls away from the doctor and a knife appears in his neck.

With a gurgling noise the unnamed man drops to the floor as the doctor falls away only to vanish before reaching the floor. Garrus and Shepard take the chance to open fire with Wroth and Alenko while Williams hangs back still not trusting the weapon in her hands. The fire fight is short lived as an object appeared in mid air and hit the wall by the remaining men, but before anyone could react a high pitched noise and small blue light was emitted for a moment. As the light and noise died the opponents drop to the floor.

Wroth turning to where the object appeared "Nice throw with the grenade Genray." The group turn to see Genray and the doctor appear out of thin air; walking over to the corpse of the first downed enemy, Genray reaches for his knife while replying "What can I say, I have always been good at chucking a grenade or two." Williams and Garrus both gawk at him as he pulls out the knife and flicks the blood off of it before stowing it in his shoulder holster.

Turning to Garrus, "You might want to get some men down here to secure these guys before the get up and decide that they should run for it." Genray laughed at Garrus' stunned expression while Wroth waited for him to call for backup to secure the downed mercs. It was nearly seven minutes later when Nihlus walked in with the C-Sec officers and a seven foot tall being wearing a violet colored armor.

While C-Sec took the mercs into custody Nihlus spoke with Shepard "I have learned that a former Shadow Broker Agent called Fist is now working for Saren." Shepard taking in everything that Nihlus was saying learned that the Krogan called Wrex has been hired to deal with Fist and that Wrex has learned about a Quarian that might have information on Saren.

Shepard turned to Wroth "Can you contact Bob and see if he has anything about the Quarian?" Nodding in agreement to Shepard's request Wroth activated his comm. "Truth, this is Corporal Wroth of Team-1. I need to speak with Bob."

_Corporal, Bob here; what can I do for you?_

"Bob, we need any information in regards to the following keywords Quarian, Fist and Saren."

_Standby, it might take me a moment; ah found it. There was a communications logged by the Keepers only minutes ago between Fist and another party; it was one way only stating that they are in position and waiting for the Quarian to show. I don't have a location trace._

"Thanks Bob. Wroth out." Closing the comm. and looking back to Shepard the team plans there next move. The Krogan Wrex opens with that Fist should be in Chora's Den and that he will have a number of mercs protecting him. Shepard and Nihlus agree and ask Wrex to join us at least long enough to reach Fist and extract the information from him. Wrex agrees to the plan and the team moves to Chora's Den.

* * *

Upon entering the Human embassy, Udina turns to Captains Anderson and Mazikowski, "Okay I want to know exactly what is going on here. Is there something planed by the Parliament that I have not been made aware of?" Udina looked expectedly to Anderson and Mazikowski then back turning to get answers all while glaring at the two of them. Anderson speaks up first "No Udina, look Captain Mazikowski and her crew are not apart of the Systems Alliance. And before you ask Nihlus and myself have been given a brief idea of where Captain Mazikowski is from."

Turning to fully face Captain Mazikowski and her marines Udina dives in with "Okay Captain, perhaps you can tell me exactly what is going on that you would make such an obviously false request." Keeping myself calm I look to Udina "Ambassador, so you know humans are spread further out than you can ever truly imagine. The human species is not confined to this galaxy or galactic group alone but has been spread to multiple galactic groups by their progenitor species."

For a single moment Udina attempts to comprehend what he has just heard and unfortunately he fails with the response "What exactly are you talking about?" Sighing once again today, Laura starts off with explaining who the Lanteans are and why some call them the Forerunners. Giving both Udina and Anderson a brief history of the Lantean people from when they migrated to Pegasus galaxy to modern day, both men start to understand the possibilities of there being humans spread across the universe.

With the brief explanation about the Lantean/Forerunner history and how it pertains to the GRA, Udina decided to ask a question that has started to plague him about all of this. "Captain, is your government going to try and take control of the Systems Alliance?" Shaking her head "No, we have no need nor desire to take control of the Systems Alliance. In fact if anything it is better that there are multiple human based governments." Udina look relived for a few moments while Anderson appeared confused by her response.

"Captain, why is it better to have multiple human based governments. I can understand multiple colony worlds with their own governments, but why not a united Humanity?" For a few moments Laura through over the question and then replies with "IDIC." Both the local humans show extreme confusion while the marines laugh at their expense; taking pity she continues "It means Infinite Diversity in Infinite Combinations. It is something that for a long time was ignored amongst our galaxies. A pop culture genre created by one of the greatest heroes of our civilization brought it into the open and helped people accept others."

Anderson looked straight into her eyes and asked "Who is this hero and his creation that would give your people this IDIC?" Now the marines are practically laughing their heads off as Laura responses "His name is Gene Roddenberry. He created Star Trek; it was a hit series almost eighty years ago." Anderson motioned for her to continue "Well it started following the adventures of the crew of a starship called Enterprise. Think of the Normandy as more of an exploration ship with a few non-human crew as part of the Systems Alliance Navy."

This caused Udina to look up in shock while Anderson seemed thoughtful. Laura continues her explanation with "In the story the crew explores space, but they also set an example for what humans can become. That was Roddenberry's true dream, to have Star Trek help his world of the time come together and be a united people." Anderson decided to ask "So, this Star Trek helped your world develop by uniting the people into one government?" Shaking her head once more Laura answered no and then went on to explain that while the Star Trek series tried to foster such things; it did not succeed on the imagined scale.

She continued with it only helped others to open their minds and continue where Roddenberry could not after his death. Most used the series to make money but the vast majority the sagas of the varying crews and adventures started a fundamental unseen change in the world. Looking at Udina and Anderson closely "It was not until Earth, one of our Capital worlds was threaten with destruction by a rogue asteroid that the Lanteans first started to appear." Taking a moment to pause she looked behind her to the Presidium to see the artificial sky.

Turning back "It was oddly enough my father who brought things out and into the light. He had been in secret building Lantean tech in stages that could be released into the world. At the time the economy was in turmoil and people were losing hope and jobs left and right. He couldn't stand it so he began making advances that would help offset the world's downward spiral and help people around the world." Udina interrupted with "What did he do, what kind of technologies did he make?"

Looking thoughtful for a few moments Laura answered "None really. All he did was take existing technologies for the most part that had already been invited and began to restructure them into more advanced versions that people would have eventually achieved anyway. All my father did was push the existing technology into the right direction to allow it to grow beyond what it was originally designed for." It was then that Anderson spoke with revelation "He allowed the people of your Earth to find things on there own, but at the same time gave it to them."

The discussion continued like that for the next few hours, with Udina and Anderson learning about the rise of the GRA and who some of the elder races joined either out of friendship for the Humans calling themselves Tua'ri or friendship with the surviving Lanteans. Both Anderson and Udina were starting to understand who and what the GRA is and why the Truth's Light had been sent to this galaxy.

* * *

**Location: **M6 Galactic Group Void – Midway Station – Repair Docks  
**Ship Class: **Titan  
**Ship Name:** Girty Lou  
**Local Time:** 0425 Hours Midway Standard Time

Within the personal quarters of the commanding officer is one Alexandria Kelms sitting at a desk reading reports on her ship's status. On the desk is a photo of a marine squad of seven people, these were her old teammates during her time as a marine. The people shown are those that she calls her family, the picture next to it has the surviving members of her squad standing next to those of her command staff. Years ago during the Ori War, the Girty Lou was sling shot out of the galaxy to another galactic group and during that time people were lost.

Looking at the pictures fondly Alex gives a small smile at one young man who had not survived the Ori War. This person was Corporal Mickey "Mouse" Roberts; he had died during due to the Battle of Regina VI. His death was one of the hardest for her old squad as he had died so far from home; but before she could continue with her thoughts her comm. unit signaled for her attention.

Pressing the open channel button, "This is Kelms, what is it?"

_Ma'am, we have Supreme Commander Phoenix on the line from the Aurora._

A little surprised at this, Kelms gave the go ahead to put the channel through to her office.

_Commander, I have new orders from Generals Ronson and Adama._

"Sir; what are our orders?" She is obviously surprised that both General Ronson and former Admiral now General Adama has new orders for her ship.

_Alex, we need the Girty Lou to use the LSD to jump to the neighboring galactic group and begin recon of the secondary main galaxy. But before you read your orders I need to brief you on two on going missions that will involve your ship._

Pausing for only a moment Phoenix gives her a look containing something Alex had so rarely seen from him; uncertainty.

_We have from the Ninth the Shadow Sight stationed in the void monitoring an unknown fleet of ships; during their last report it appears to be a massive fleet. The possibility of this being the remnants for a galactic civilization was not lost on us, but with new information recently provided by the Truth's Light has altered the mission._

_Alex, we sent the Truth into the galaxy to map out unknown but familiar energy readings; what they found is a group of civilizations that span their known galaxy. After the report was given by Captain Laura Mazikowski, it was decided that elements of the First Fleet would be deployed along with some support ships from the Defense Fleets._

Looking at the orders for a moment, Alex asks "So, command wants eyes and ears beyond a single Icarus class ship. But why the Girty Lou; we just under went a major refit here at Midway and almost all of the crew now on board are fresh recruits with almost no experience outside of the Academy."

_I understand Alex, and because of this you are getting some veterans transferring back to your ship. Tel'mic along with the rest of your old squad and command crew are being reassigned back to the Girty Lou._

This took Alex by surprise; the majority of the old crew had either retired or had been transferred after their return home nearly two decades ago. Though they had stayed in touch not that manner had remained as active members of the Star Forces. Most of the Non-Coms who had only joined to get a free ride through college had retired from service while the career crew members and a few of the Non-Coms from outer colonies remained in the service.

"Sir, just how many of the old crew are being re-assigned back to the ship?" This is one of the bigger questions floating in her mind.

_All of them who have remained as members of the Star Forces, but that's not all. You are being assigned an additional crew of two hundred marines._

With a sudden gasp, "That is four companies worth; Sir just what are we going to be facing when we get there that we are getting so many marines?"

_Alex, the marines will be securing a Lantean outpost and defending it against possible attacks. But it is not the marines that you will have to worry about. Command has decided to assign ten and I do mean ten squads of Spartans to the mission at hand for the Girty Lou to deploy._

This time Alex could not help but react with a level of surprise that would unnerve anyone in sight. "Sir, they are sending fifty Spartan Super Soldiers. But why so many and why deploy them what so ever? This does make any sense; the Spartans are normally only deployed to front line service."

_I know this seems somewhat odd, but with what we have recently learned about a species called the Reapers and the Geth it has been decided that is a means of countering an unknown enemy that the Spartans will be needed. Alex, there are humans in the galaxy you are heading for and a few thousand have already been put close to death by this enemy and Command wants us to extend a hand of friendship to the people of the Citadel by helping to defend their colonies._

"Sir, I understand; we will head out once the crew has arrived."

_Good luck out there Alex and watch yourself. The fleet will be deploying in roughly three weeks. Aurora Out._

* * *

**Next Time: The LSD, Spartans and Assault on Chora's Den**

During the next chapter, Shepard's team beings the assault on Chora's Den to get to Fist and the Quarian, while the Citadel Council gives Laura their decision about her Request for the First Fleet to enter Citadel space. Meanwhile the Girty Lou received the marines and Spartans arriving at Midway. As all this takes place the Truth receives a subspace signal from the Lantean outpost that contains some disturbing information.

A note to all readers; I will be writing the next chapter, but it will not be posted until next week. My other major story Geodesic Fold Adventure has been recovered from my old computer and I will be posting updates to that at the same time as this story. Thank you.


	4. Chapter 4

**The LSD, Spartans and Assault on Chora's Den**

Near Chora's Den a transport comes to a halt and eight beings step out. The first three appear to be humans of the Systems Alliance who are followed by a Krogan and two Turians. The last two are humans dressed in what looks to be a strange form of armor.

Shepard looked towards his newly assembled team, he felt somewhat odd having seven people to lead into what could easily be a heavily armed enemy. The odd feeling is of course from the fact that other than Williams and Alenko, there are at least three different sources for combat training that the team had been trained in. Weather they can truly work as a team is about to be put to the test and he did not like the fact that it would be in a live-fire situation.

During their approach to Chora's Den Shepard watched Wroth place his hand on the side of his helmet in the same way when he was able to scan the Clinic before the fight with the mercs. "Wroth, do you have anything on what we might be facing?" The Krogan looked at Shepard "Name's Wrex, human."

Ignoring the new enforcer of the team; "Sir, we have at least 2 to 1odds against us in numbers and most appear to be using native assault rifles. I think the best course is to chuck some stunner grenades in and then take out the remaining opponents after the blast."

Shepard had to think about Wroth's attack plan, while Wrex looked at Wroth. "Interesting Human, and how are you able to discern that without any form of Intel. Not even the Shadow Broker agent told me what I might be up against and yet you seem certain of it, so how?" Wroth just shook his head and replied that subspace can be used for more than communications. This got Wrex to chuckle and slap Wroth on the back "I like you Human, Wroth is it?"

Wroth nodded in response and Wrex grinned back and then readied his assault rifle. Williams sneered at the show that Wrex had put on, but Shepard though of something. "Genray, can you give a repeat performance of the clinic here?" Genray looked at Shepard for a moment before replying "Sorry, but it is basically the choice of shield or cloak not both. With the numbers they have it will be a shooting gallery and I prefer to keep my hid intact thank you."

Wroth frowned but said nothing mainly due to the fact that Genray is being truthful; in a fire fight like what Chora's Den might end up being, running around with miniature MAC guns firing all over the place is an unhealthy prospect. During this Williams came across a thought that had not yet occurred to her; how is it that before at the clinic Wroth only detected the weapons but not the types and now he was able to tell them that the enemies ahead have assault rifles.

"Wroth, how are you able to tell what the enemy is armed with now and not before?" In an off handed manner "Because our battle computers were still analyzing the scan data during the battles earlier. The Pistols appear to have a similar energy signature and for a while it confused the scans. Those mercs earlier fired enough rounds for the scans to get enough detail to give us a better idea of what we're facing."

Not wanting to pass up the freely offered information Wrex dived in, "So you guys are linked to a ship or computer network to analyze all of the data from a fight?" Wroth shook his head and then "Not really, we use learning systems in our armor. The more fights a marine ends up in the more the armor's core synchronizes with them to the point in which it is like having an AI right with you giving you tips in mid combat."

This caused all of the natives of the team to stop in mid step; Nihlus turned to Wroth with what could be a worried expression. "You use AI's in your armors?" "No, we use LI's or Learning Intelligence; they are the closest we have every come to making a true AI. Of course the Tech-R-Us nuts would disagree." Genray shuddered in response to Wroth's words.

At everyone's questioning stares Wroth explains "Tech-R-Us is a fanatic group of beings that believe that our next step of evolution is to join with machines. They have been under the belief that the Artificials and organics merging into one race is what the universe has meant for us. They have yet to do anything like try and join with a shipboard AI Core; otherwise our government would have had them contained to one of the Forge Worlds."

Genray shaking his head with disgust, "They should be confined to a Forge World and be forgotten about after that. Those Tech-R-Us freaks are worse then the Wraith worshippers; at least with the Wraith you know what will happen, but not with Tech-R-Us." Turning to spit in disgust about any further thoughts on the subject Genray sneered looking down at his own arm. Seemingly the only one to notice this is Williams as the others aside from Wroth had focused on the information about Tech-R-Us.

"Okay, enough of that, we need to focus on the matter at hand." Shepard said looking at each of them. Considering the options available, he looked at Wrex, Wroth and Nihlus for a moment; then looking at Alenko and Garrus, he came to a decision. "Okay, we are going to break down into teams of three. Wrex, Nihlus and Wroth will go in and secure Fist. Alenko, Garrus and myself will cover them while taking the mercs in Chora's Den."

While the others nodded in agreement, Williams and Genray looked at each other before Shepard continues with "Genray and Williams will remain here; we will stay in radio contact. Once we find out where the meeting has been setup Williams and Genray will head there, while the rest of us pull back to join them." Giving one more look at everyone present, Shepard orders the teams to move out and to begin the assault.

* * *

**Teams Nihlus and Shepard**

Moving towards the entrance for Chora's Den, the six totals members of the assembled assault teams perform a final weapons check on their rifles before they begin. Shepard runs through a mental check list of the plan; while his team deals with the mercs, Nihlus and his team will locate and secure Fist. If all goes according to plan then Williams and Genray will be able to reach the Quarian while the rest would pull back and rendezvous at Citadel Transit Station at the Embassies.

Looking up from his mental check list, Shepard notices that Nihlus is using the same pistol he had checked during the drop on Eden Prime. Shaking off the sudden flash of information brought on by the memory of Eden Prime, he looks over to see Wrex with an assault rifle and Wroth with the now identified P-90 Assault Rifle. Wroth for some odd reason tapped his rifle against his arm, the same as the one holding the rifle.

Checking on Alenko and Garrus for a moment, Sheppard turns to Nihlus once more and with a nod between the two the assault begins. The first through the doorway is Garrus and Wrex, both going in opposite directions and laying down cover fire. They are followed by Shepard and Nihlus and then Wroth and Alenko; each joining their teammates with Alenko using his biotics and Wroth throwing a grenade every so often.

This is the time that both teams split from each other; Nihlus leading his team towards the back while Shepard and his team draws the mercs towards the front. Alenko let loose another volley with his biotics causing chairs and tables to go flying at the opposing mercs. Garrus hid a grin as the flying debris found its mark and nailed seven of the mercenaries.

One of those that managed to dodge aimed what appears to be a rocket launcher, but before the merc could fire a knife lodged itself into the side of his neck. Shepard tried to trace the path and found Wroth at the end firing his rifle into a group of mercs trying to keep Wrex, Nihlus and myself out of a hallway on the other side of the bar.

* * *

**Team Nihlus**

After separating from Shepard, Alenko and Garrus; Nihlus lead Wrex and Wroth towards a hallway on one side of the bar. Wrex was of course having a field day with all of the mercenaries he was fighting; with a Krogan's love for battle it is of little surprise that Wrex would enjoy himself. Looking at Wroth, Nihlus could only smirk in appreciation of a soldier that Wroth appears to be; quiet and calm while having initiative and following orders. This is easily demonstrated when Wroth drew his combat knife and threw it at one mercenary hefting a rocket launcher on his shoulder.

Nihlus knew for a fact that despite being a Spectre, even he would take flack from the Council if rocket damage occurs inside of the Citadel. Bringing himself back to the task at hand, Nihlus finds that both Wroth and Wrex has cleared a path into the hallway and is already facing the men at the door leading into the warehouse. Joining them, the three quickly clear the opposition but are unable to access the warehouse.

"Great, well Turian what is our next idea. With this door secured against us, getting Fist and the Quarian has gotten more difficult." Nihlus took a moment to examine the door, without looking at Wrex or Wroth he began to work on the locking systems. "You two try and hold our position; this is a standard locking system. I should be able to override it but it will take me several minutes." Without further word Nihlus begins working on the lock while Wrex and Wroth Take up defensive positions, just as the sound of a fragmentation grenade going off in the bar.

* * *

  
**Williams and Genray**

After watching the others disappear into Chora's Den, Williams turns to Genray "So, what is with your arm?" Genray looking up at Williams in surprise, she continues "I saw how you sneered at it when you were talking about those Tech-R-Us guys. So something happened to you involving those guys?"

Looking down for a few moments Genray looks into Williams eyes; she is taken aback by what she sees there. Genray's eyes hold unbridled hatred in them, a hatred burning so hot it could easily melt the Normandy itself. Looking straight to her, "It was when I was barely seventeen years old. My parents and I had just moved from our home-world in Pegasus to the Heliopolis colony in the Epsilon Eridani. My father didn't believe in the GRA's military so we moved to one of the privately owned civilian colonies."

Taking a breath he continues "Heliopolis is an old O'Neill class station; instead of artificial gravity like the ships and stations under complete or partial ownership of the government, Heliopolis had to rotate to generate gravity." Williams took this moment to interrupt with "So basically like to old west in space then right?"

With a quick nod "Yep, and not just with the fact that it had to rotate either. Heliopolis is a fifteen mile long station built using older construction methods; the station was only partial constructed when we moved there. It took over twenty years to build it and a lot of people didn't live to see its completion."

Not quite understanding what she had heard thus far Williams urged him to continue. "Well, you see during the construction of one section my mother and I had happened upon some of the workers huddled near the end of the corridor we were passing to get home. We had ignored them and continued on, seeing workers about was consent during the time so we thought nothing of it. We had managed to just about make it to the junction between sections when it happened."

For a moment Genray was quite and then holding up his arm so Williams could see, "There was an explosion and the entire station rocked; my mother pushed me towards the junction just as we started to feel wind rushing past us. At the time I didn't really understand, having grown up on a planet and not bothering to learn much about space stations and ships it was hard to see why my mother would be afraid of some wind."

Williams stopped him again, but this time "There was a haul breach in that section wasn't there? Your mother, did she die?" Looking away for a moment, Genray looked out at the Wards and then "Yes, my mother pushed me out into the junction just as the pressure bulkheads closed. But the worse part was she was trapped on the other side with the breach; I did not even think about what I was doing and tried to open the bulkhead door. A nearby group of workers and citizens tried to stop me; I managed to over power them but one of the workers had a plasma cutter and used it on my right arm as I tried to open the bulkhead."

Only now did Williams start to put together why he had sneered at his own arm earlier; she remained quite as he continued. "I had to watch my mother suffocate to death through the three foot thick glass; during this I was bleeding to death. The plasma cutter did not leave a clean cut and my severed arm lay near the controls while I was by the glass watching my mother die. I had blacked out and woke up in the clinic down the corridor from my home; I was horrified to learn that a week had past. The doctors were able to reattach my arm, but I didn't care my mother was gone and I had no one to blame."

Williams face showed shock, "What do you mean no one to blame? I thought that it was Tech-R-Us?" Looking back to her "It was, but I did not learn that until my father and I had an argument. I wanted to leave Heliopolis and join the Star Forces, I needed something to put all my pain and rage into and the marines sounded like the best thing to do. He hated the idea and refused to let me go, he even sighted that it was the government's fault for not disposing of Tech-R-Us; that got to me, he blamed the government and had not even bothered to tell me who had killed my mother."

Taking another sharp breath both turned toward Chora's Den when they heard an explosion; Williams reached for her rifle, while Genray shrugged saying "Just a grenade; if they need us they will let us know." For a moment Williams remained tense before relaxing slightly and putting her rifle back; as she had placed her rifle back into storage form something past the edge of her sight. Turning sharply towards the movement Williams noticed what appears to be a woman walking into an alley, but with what the woman is wearing she might be mistaken.

**

* * *

  
Team Shepard**

The grenade had just gone off as the team had managed to take cover behind one of the hall partitions of the booths. Shepard brought his rifle to bear as he looked over the partition only to notice that the grenade had done more damage to the mercenaries then his one team. With only a few mercs remaining Garrus and Alenko both popped out of cover to join Shepard in taking down the remaining opponents in order to join up with Nihlus and the others.

Another minute or so of shooting and the path to the others is cleared; moving quickly Shepard, Alenko and Garrus manage to join up with Nihlus, Wrex and Wroth as the door to the warehouse opens. Entering the warehouse two workers flee past heading for the exit of Chora's Den; ignoring them Shepard turns to Nihlus "See you had trouble getting in?" Looking at Shepard and then back to what he is doing Nihlus replies with "The locking systems are better then I thought for a simple establishment like this."

After another few moments of working on the lock the door slides open and the team enters, but after entering only a few feet they are forced to take cover as they are fired upon once again. Ducking behind a partition wall, all the team could do is hold position; due to the amount with bullets flying none of them are able to see who or what is shooting. Wroth took this time to activate his HUD link to his gun camera and slide his P-90 along the floor to the edge of the partition.

Just as he was about to slide it past the partition, Wrex moved away from cover and proceeded to shoot at the only visible being where the weapons fire is originating. While Shepard and Nihlus order Wrex to get back to cover, Wroth using his gun camera sees only one person, but on either side of him are Auto-Turrets.

"Ha, is this the best that the Shadow Broker can come up with; makes me glad that I decided to join Saren after all." Fist obviously begins gloating when Wrex has to take cover again; Wroth taking care to aim his P-90 at the closer of the turrets manages to line up a possible shot. But before he could pull the trigger, Fist decides to inform them "Even if you try anything then I will kill us all, but at least the Quarian will not be alone in death."

Fist started laughing at his twisted joke; during this Nihlus and Shepard shared a look before Shepard tried to call Williams and Genray.

* * *

While talking with Captain Anderson, Ambassador Udina looks towards the balcony and the extra-galactic human he has recently meet. Thousands of thoughts are vying for attention and not all of them good. On one side of the spectrum is a stronger more powerful Systems Alliance, one that has the ability to travel space without the Mass Relays and have allies that span whole galaxies. The other end is where that his home and people are nothing more than slaves or worse because of a government so far away bleeding them or resources.

Even after all of Captain Mazikowski's assurances that the GRA has no reason to be in this galaxy beyond her current mission and the fact of the Protheans, Udina remains fearfully of contact with the GRA. Udina still found it hard to accept that a council similar to that of the Citadel leads a multiple galaxy civilization comprised of multiple races. But one of the things that has Udina on edge the most is how Captain Anderson has responded to the idea.

Having both been involved in the First Contact War or as the Citadel prefers the Relay 314 Incident, both have never really fully trusted the other governments. For Anderson, having once been a candidate for the Spectres, he did not have such a fear of another government and especially an alien controlled one has any say with human civilization.

The Citadel he can understand and accept their interference with human development; for the most part the laws of Citadel space is helpful and does little to interfere with the Systems Alliance outside of many races feeling that humans are getting undue attention from the Citadel Council. But for a council of barely eight people and most of them not being human having say about the lives of billions or more humans is a disturbing thought.

Before he could consider the ramifications of everything he has been learning, the holographic communications system activates displaying the Citadel Council. The Asari begins speaking "Ambassador Udina is Captain Mazikowski there with you?"

Looking out at the balcony, Udina turns back to face the Council "Yes, do you need to speak with her?"

The Turian replies sharply "Yes, we have reached our decision in regards to her rather unique request." The Turian still not truly believing that there are humans who are not part of the Systems Alliance, the same as Udina only a few hours earlier. Udina signaled one of the marines under Sergeant Shaper to ask Captain Mazikowski to come back inside the office to speak with the Citadel Council.

The marine in question took only a few seconds to retrieve his ship commanding officer and return; upon their return to the office Captain Mazikowski stood before the holographic representations of the council. "Captain, we have decided to grant your request, but we would like to have a Council Representative amongst your fleet in the interests for the Citadel races."

Giving a bow of respect to the council members, Captain Mazikowski replies "I am certain that can be arranged. I will inform my government immediately and I would like to thank the council on their behalf." Without another word the communications ends; Ambassador Udina frowns for a few moments thinking about the most recent actions of the Citadel Council.

As he begins to form a new thought in his mind, he hers Captain Mazikowski scream "What; repeat your last Truth. You said that you have received a message from the outpost." Now everyone in the office is paying rapid attention to what is being said.

_Confirmed Ma'am, just a few minutes ago we received a coded sub-space message. The origin has been confirmed as the outpost just eight light years from the Citadel, but what the message contains is the reason for concern._

Not even pausing for a second, Captain Mazikowski asks "What does the message say?"

_Patching the recording through now; we have already run it through the translation system. It is in Lantean._

_ This is Or'ni of the Prothean Peoples Republic; we have detected the presence of Forerunner technology within range of our planet. We are sending this message in the Forerunner language. If you are receiving this message please reply; there is a threat that we fear will spread beyond our galaxy if it is not contained. We are uncertain if you will receive this message and as thus will be repeating the transmission once every five time units. Please help, to our knowledge we are all that remains of our people; we had escaped the attack on the Citadel by the Reapers and traveled in the general direction that your people came from when you first appeared over one hundred thousand solar rotations ago. Please we need your help._

_The message ends there and we are only now receiving a repeat; our guess is that the subspace array that they are using is either damaged or somehow under powered for either the communications or sensors. Either way the moment we received the transmission Lieutenant 'Vadam ordered us to focus sensors towards the outpost. Ma'am what we are getting shows nearly as many life-signs as the Citadel itself._

This left everyone shocked, not only did the outpost world that Anderson and Udina have only recently learned about but that it has a population of almost six million. The truly shocking news is that that population might even be Protheans at that has everyone on edge.

* * *

**  
Location: **M6 Galactic Group Void – Midway Station – FTL Flight Booster System  
**Designation: **LSD – Light Speed Doughnut

Looking over the control room of one of the largest built frame work space stations in known history, the Asgard Commander Freya looks at his orders. To open a hyper-space jump to the neighboring galactic group secondary core galaxy; to coordinates provided by an Icarus class ship that is already present. But the order for the next three weeks is what has his attention most.

For the first time since the creation of the LSD a fleet will be sent through to another galactic group that is roughly three million light years from his stations location. The LSD had originally been constructed to launch only one ship at a time to distances of more than one hundred million light years. It had launched none other than the Midgard flagship of the Second Fleet to intercept and escort home the legendary ship Destiny. The ship and its Sentient Core were returned home with a hero's welcome and become the driving force of the Destiny class Deep Space Explorers.

Now the LSD was going to be used to send ships, a fleet in all but large numbers to another galaxy only a few weeks away for standard FTL flight. Normally Freya would wonder why such a force would be sent through the LSD, but when he learned that two of the legendary ships are being sent the time for wonder ended. The Girty Lou and Aurora both having spent more time out of galaxy than any other ships outside of the Midgard and Destiny marked something, it had to be a serious issue if half of the Trans-Galactic Ships Force as many are prone to refer to them is being sent out.

Looking up he sees the Girty Lou entering position for the LSD Jump; Freya had to sigh in aspiration, the calculations for the LSD jump had to be amended for the fifty Spartans and two hundred marines now on board. The extra mass having to be accounted for before the jump; normally an LSD Jump would target the galactic voids to protect the ship from a possible fiery fate of slamming end long into a planetary body. One could only hope that the calculations and target coordinates would be correct for the ship to re-enter normal space safely.

Well there is no more delaying, "All hands begin LSD Jump Prep. We are to target the M12 Galactic Group Secondary Core Galaxy at the following coordinates, Gird 19 at Positive X 187 by Negative Y 392 by Neutral Z 0. The Girty Lou will be depending on us for accurate transit; Major being station targeting orientation."

"Yes Sir; all hands begin station shift to target orientation for target transit. Once orientation is complete let us begin power up."

For the next hour the station under goes the difficult task to orientating the targeting and window struts to the target location marker. The station having never been designed to be moved from its location is only equipped with an M/I Shield and Thrusters for movement. The station crew takes their time knowing that a single miscalculation could cost the lives under their care for the jump. Once in position the jump power up begins.

Feeling the station beginning to vibrate Freya listens to the crew check off the jump prep list.

"We have spin on empathy generators 1 through 20 and positive spin on hyper rings 1 to 5."

"Sirs, we have confirmed energy linkage to Zero Point Power planets 1 through 200 at maximum output and 201 through 300 coming online."

"Update with hyper rings 6 to 10 now entering positive spin and 3 million rotations per minute."

As this is heard the station's vibrations reach the point that the bulkheads begin to groan in protest. Freya looks at his holo-screen to see that the output is now in target range; signaling for a connection to the Girty Lou to be opened, his screen changes to show the bridge of the Titan class ship. "Commander you are go for jump; good luck and come back safely my friends."

_Roger that LSD Control, Girty Lou is now jumping; we will see you on the flip side._

With that the connection closes and the purple/violent colored energies of the Hyper-space window become visible just as the Girty Lou enters the acceleration tunnel and is shot into hyper-space at nearly five thousand times the speed of light. All on board hoping that the M/I Shields and Inertial Dampeners can protect the Titan ship's crew from the possibility of becoming paste on the nearest bulkhead.

* * *

**  
Next Time: Rescue the Quarian, Citadel Fleet meets Girty Lou**

In the next chapter, Genray and Williams are order by Shepard to rescue the Quarian; while that is happening Shepard and his team must find a way to take Fist down without him killing them all with whatever weapon he outside of the Citadel near the Mass Relay the Girty Lou appears in a blaze of spatial distortion that causes the Destiny Ascension and the Citadel fleet to target the Titan class ship. While this is happening the Citadel Council with the aid from the Truth's Light make contact with the surviving Protheans and make some startling discoveries about their home galaxy and especially the Citadel and the Mass Relays.


	5. Chapter 5

**Rescue the Quarian, Citadel Fleet meets Girty Lou**

Outside of Chora's Den minutes prior to Shepard and company encountering Fist; Williams looks over to Genray having learned a little about his past, she decided there is no reason why he cannot learn about hers. "Genray how do you feel about aliens?" The suddenness of the question caused Genray to faultier and falls to the floor. Williams did not even try to stifle her laugh at seeing the marine land rear first with surprise on his face.

Leveling a glare at her, "Williams, what is with that question and stop laughing." It is either in despite of or the inability to, Williams continued to laugh at the downed marine, in her eyes it is rather funny. Deciding that he had been the subject of her joke long enough, "Williams you do realize that I am an alien, right?" This had the desired effect of stopping her laughter, but not lagging behind she returns a glare of her own.

They glared at each other for a few more minutes until Williams' comm. unit at her via for attention; without releasing her glare at Genray, she answers. On the other end is Commander Shepard, in the back ground she can hear some gloating about his victory; her attention however is on what Shepard had just told her. "Commander, can you repeat that? Do you have the location of the Quarian or the meeting place?"

_Williams, I said that Fist has a bomb here and is threatening to detonate if we try to leave; he has however told us that the Quarian will be at the alley by the markets near the Transit Terminal. Williams you should b near the spot in question, get to the Quarian and get it back to Captains Anderson and Mazikowski. We will deal with Fist, now move!_

Genray not even hesitating for a second turns to where they had watched the woman, or at least from his point of view; disappeared into an alley. Taking off in a dead run, Genray quickly closes the distance between himself and the alley doorway; Williams moving as fast as she can to keep up with the highly trained marine. During their dash for the alley, Williams could not help but notice that Genray's armor does not appear to impede him despite its heavy appearance.

Holding at the alley doorway waiting for Williams to catch up, Genray holds his right hand to his helmet activating the HUD and Visor systems. His view changes to show heat and energy signatures; there appear to be four beings in the alley, but for some reason there is a void in his view by what appears to be a fifth being. With Williams now on the other side of the doorway, Genray holds up his left hand with four fingers extended upward before tapping his helmet and then pointing in the direction of the four signals.

It takes Williams a moment to realize that Genray has indicated that there are four people in the alley; this must be the meeting spot and that means that one of the people is the Quarian. Nodding her head saying that she understands, Williams thumbs the door controls and the door opens leading to stairs leading up. Both of them move into the alley each hugging the walls as they move; as they reach the top of the stairs Williams can make out at least two combat drones and two aliens.

Taking a sharp intake of breath Williams berates herself for not realizing that the woman from earlier is the Quarian that they have been looking for. Looking back to Genray, Williams finds that he is looking away from the meeting towards one of the Keepers. Ignoring that she prepares to move in to extract the Quarian when Genray taps his left elbow and vanishes from sight. Thinking that he is going to try and maneuver around to the opposite side for a crossfire; Williams moves in when the Quarian screams out throwing a grenade at the three in front of her.

Moving swiftly Williams and the Quarian manage to gun down the two combat drones and Fist's enforcer; the whole while Genray had remained hidden from view. Williams snorted at his obvious cowardice in the face of a real fight; turning to the Quarian "Are you alright?" Before the Quarian could answer, a knife flew between them towards the Keeper followed by several bright yellow bolts. Williams turns to find Genray now visible and lays another heavy glare at him, but before she could say a word the Quarian stumbles back drawing attention to what Genray had attacked.

Turning towards where Genray had shot, Williams sees the remains of what appears to be a Geth with red armor. Turning to stare at Genray with shock apparent on her face Williams asks "How, is that why you went invisible again; you knew that it was there and waited to destroy it?" Nodding in the affirmative, Genray answers "Yeah, when I scanned the alley from the door I noticed a void in the scan. The void is similar to when the Sodan use their cloaking shield but was different enough to not give me an outline until I was closer." Williams gave him a confused look, while the Quarian turned to him with a questioning posture to her form.

"Thank you for helping me to deal with Fist's thugs", as she looks at Williams and then turning to Genray "and thank you for dealing with that Geth Prime. I have never seen anyone take down a Geth Prime that easily." Moving towards the now identified Geth Prime; Genray pulled his knife out of the optic lens that formed its face. The Quarian started surveying the remains, all the while saying "And to somehow defeat it while leaving the majority of it intact is simply amazing. I must somehow get this back to the Migrant Fleet for study, we never find nearly intact remains and this will be a real boost to my people determining a way to defeat the Geth and reclaim our home world. Oh I am sorry, I must have rambled on my name is Tali, Tali'Zorah Nar Rayya."

Stepping forward Williams spoke first "Gunnery Chief Ashley Williams of the Systems Alliance and this is" as she signals towards Genray. Finished the introduction he says "Private First Class Callen Genray of the Great Races Alliance, you can call me Genray." Tali looked at each of them during the introduction and as they finished, "You can call me Tali. I never expected humans to have developed weapons capable of taking down Geth so easily; perhaps the Migrant Fleet could petition the Systems Alliance for aid against the Geth."

Williams shook her head and while indicating towards Genray says "You will have to take it up with this GRA that Genray is a part of, the Systems Alliance uses the same weapons as every other Citadel race. The GRA is the one with advanced energy weapons, thou if we could get our hands on a working model I don't doubt that we would have such weapons in the immediate future." The last part being said as she looks at Genray's P-90; Genray just shook his head while sighing. Pushing that aside he looked around for a moment before pulling a small item out of his shin holster and sticking it to the Geth remains.

With a quick tap there is a flash of light and as the light clears the Geth is suddenly gone; Tali looked towards Genray as he picked up the device and slipped it back into its holster. "Where did the remains go? Did you vaporize them or something?" Turning to view both Tali and Williams at the same time, Genray explains with "Actually what I used is an Asgard storage device; the Geth is now nothing more than an energy pattern inside of a memory crystal. When we get to a more secure location I can return it to normal for examination; we need to get you to a secured location and waiting for someone to secure the Geth remains is not a good idea, so I stored it for transport."

Williams looked at the holster with something akin to interest while if he could see her face, Tali would show an unbridled desire. Motioning for them to follow he begins walking towards the Transit Terminal, both Tali and Williams followed after him with Williams looking back every so often. Upon reaching the terminal Williams turns towards Chora's Den, but before she could take a step forward a hand grabs her shoulder. Looking at the hand she finds that Genray is standing next to her, "We need to get Tali back to the Systems Alliance Embassy first, and then we can return with backup for Commander Shepard and the others." Williams gave one last look towards Chora's Den before joining Tali and Genray in the Citadel Transit Car to head for Ambassador Udina's Office.

* * *

**  
Shepard and Company**

Laughter like what Fist is displaying is something that normally will be marked as a sign of insanity; for Shepard the crackling madman was causing his headache from the Prothean Beacon to flare up. Turning to where Wrex had taken cover, he is certain that Wrex fells the same about Fist that he himself does at this moment. The former Shadow Broker Agent had in essence gone mad and now with the threats such as blowing himself up just to kill them if they tried anything and that included leaving, Shepard had started to wonder about they prospects of survival.

Looking around Shepard had come to the realization that Fist is more then likely suicidal by now, most of the furniture had been destroyed when members of his team had tried to move away from the machine gun turrets. He wasn't certain but Nihlus had to have lost his Kinetic Barrier along with Wrex; for Garrus he is certain that the barrier had failed due to the bullet wound he now sported in his left leg. Alenko was tiring out with using is biotics to project a shield in order to deflect the consistent stream of bullets and as for Wroth, the man had remained unmoved from his position at the edge of a partition wall just short of Fist's actual office.

They had been trapped with Fist for nearly twenty minutes now; hopefully Williams and Genray would have found the Quarian and taken it to Ambassador Udina's office. His thoughts are interrupted by a strange noise, turning in the direction of the sound he finds Wroth now standing with his rifle at the ready. But the direction he was facing is back towards the entrance; happening a glance back to the door, he gasps. There standing in the doorway is three Geth; the first two are your average gray color standing at about five foot ten inches. The last of the three is covered in red colored armor and stands roughly seven to eight feet tall and has a large rifle in its hands.

With the three Geth now baring down on the team it is a choice between Fist's guns or the Geth; with Wrex the choice is easier then most considering that he was hired by the Shadow Broker to kill Fist. Nihlus and Shepard the choice is between who is the greater threat and the resources needed to take them down and this is especially true considering the Alenko and Garrus are unable to fight to their fullest. Wroth acted faster then the others by drawing his combat knife and throwing it at the red armored Geth and successfully hitting it with the knife buried hilt deep into the Geth.

This draws the Geth's attention to him, taking aim with its rifle at the unmoving Wroth from his position by the edge of the partition. Nihlus is screaming for Wroth to take cover as the Geth squeezes the trigger and a round fires from the rifle just as Wroth drops to the floor. The shot passes over Wroth for the most part harmlessly until it impacts the partition and explodes; this in turn allows the auto-gun turrets to track and fire on the move Geth. From the corner of his vision Shepard sees a grin on Wrex's face as several Geth rounds pepper Fist while the turrets and everyone in the room shoots at the Geth.

The first of the Geth falls to the combined and unintended fire power of Fist's gun turrets and the rifles of Shepard and company. Before the second Geth befalls the same fate both the large red Geth and the remaining gray one manage to destroy the turrets, but it follows the turret like the last Geth. This left the large Geth; Wrex moved from cover rushing the Geth and striking it with the butt of his rifle. The Geth took offense to that and back handed Wrex sending the Krogan Battle Master back several feet into Alenko's Biotic reach and allowing the him to land safely.

Taking the opportunity now opened to him, Shepard sent two grenades flying with Garrus and Nihlus following up with fire from their rifles. As the Geth's Kinetic Barrier is buffered by the grenades and rifle fire, something unseen occurs to the combat knife still in the Geth's arm. There is a whining noise just before an electrical discharge that rips its way through the Geth frying the systems, taking it down.

Shepard looking at the destruction of the office and at the remains of the Geth; turning to his team "Okay everyone, we are going to move. There might be more Geth or some of Fist's mercenaries still around here and I rather not get into another fight if I can help it, so we are going to head for the Embassy and hope that Williams and Genray have the Quarian with them." Without a word every member of the team including Wrex head to the Citadel Transit Terminal and from there to the Human Systems Alliance Embassy.

* * *

**  
Genray and Company Arrival at the Embassy**

Upon reaching the embassy the first thing that occurs is Genray and Williams being verbally assault by Ambassador Udina. "What have you been doing? There are reports of gun fire at Chora's Den and an alley near the markets in the Wards; it was bad enough with the incident at the clinic by C-Sec Academy, but now you go and destroy Chora's Den and who knows how many people." The Ambassador continues on for another few minutes, ranting about how they were suppose to keep a low profile but how instead they caused who knows how much damage.

All the while Tali is trying to ask Genray to explain more about the technology he has with him and only occasionally asking what the Ambassador is yelling about. Captain Anderson attempts to intervene on the behalf of Genray and Williams while hoping the others would arrive soon to help in their own defense. While this is happening Genray's fellow Privates are snickering at his misfortune with Captain Mazikowski listening and Sergeant Shaper raising an eyebrow in response to the Ambassador.

This is the scene in which Shepard and crew find upon their own arrival at the embassy; upon seeing Shepard and Nihlus both Captain Anderson and Ambassador Udina approach them. The Ambassador not waiting for a moment jumps on them with "I hope that what ever evidence you found is worth the damage you and your cohorts have caused." "Udina, I am certain that if Commander Shepard or Nihlus could have found a way to keep the damage from happening, they would have." Anderson spoke feeling the need to defend his officer and the Spectre from Udina's wrath.

Nihlus and Shepard shared a look before facing Udina, Nihlus spoke first "Ambassador the damage we caused is nothing compared to the fact that there are Geth here on the Citadel." This piece of news caused both Udina and Anderson to go white with shock; the most heavily defended location in the known galaxy and somehow the Geth were able to gain entry with no one knowing a thing. It was then that Tali spoke, "Perhaps once I examine the remains we can determine how they got here and who helped them get on to the Citadel."

Shepard turning to her "Sorry, but we destroyed most of the Geth remains to make certain that they were out of commission." Extending his hand "I am Commander John Shepard, this is Nihlus Kryik along with Kaiden Alenko, Corporal Wroth and Urdnot Wrex." Each of the mention people nodding their head or saying hello as Shepard introduced them, "You must be the Quarian that Fist had tried to betray. I am glad that Genray and Williams were able to help you."

Tali taking his hand "Yes, my name is Tali'Zorah Nar Rayya but you can call me Tali. As for the Geth remains, Genray has already secured an intact Geth Prime for me to study; it even has some form of invisibility function that Genray has similar abilities. It might even be able to access its memory core and learn its orders or other tactical information about the Geth." As Tali continued on about all the possible discoveries that she could find with an intact Geth to study, everyone else in the room turns to Genray and Williams.

Williams took a step back and tried to direct their attention to Genray; Genray seeing this quickly speaks up with "Hey, don't look at us; the moment we got here the Ambassador has been screaming his head off at us and we couldn't get a word in edge wise." This caused a temporary glare at the Ambassador before turning back to Genray to continue. Seeing as he had already spoken, Genray continues with "Well the Geth appear to have something similar to a Sodan Cloak. I guess that is how they are getting on board the Citadel, anyway I managed to down what Tali here calls a Geth Prime. Ugly Red son-of-a that I used the EMP setting on my P-90 and my combat knife against its only optical sensor; it was planning on killing Tali the moment Fist failed, but with the ones you faced there might be more to it then what I think."

That got everyone thinking for a moment before alarms started to blare; Udina ran to his desk and contacted the System Alliance Control Tower. "This is Ambassador Udina, what is going on? Is the Citadel under attack by the Geth?" An immediate response came through.

_Ambassador, an unknown energy anomaly has appeared near the Relay and a hundred meter long ship has come towards the Citadel at FTL speeds._

Udina and Anderson both realized that the hundred meter long ship has to be the Truth's Light; both men turned to Captain Mazikowski but before they could ask, the alarm blared again. But this time a voice was heard ordering all citizens to prepare for evacuation and the officer that Udina has on the line yelled.

_Ambassador, something came out of the anomaly. It's a battleship, at least five hundred meters long and anything else is just static, if it weren't for our own eyes we might not even see it. But the thing is easily bigger than anything short of a battleship or a dreadnaught; wait we are getting a better image now; it has similar markings on it as the smaller one._

Before Udina could ask for any more information, Captain Mazikowski's comm. unit squawked for attention. "This is Mazikowski, go ahead."

_Captain, Rtas here; the Girty Lou just arrived. They used the Light Speed Doughnut under orders from Generals Ronson and Adama. I think we might want to let the Citadel know the first of our ships have arrived._

"Agreed," turning to face Udina, Laura is greeted with a line of shocked faces; pushing that aside for the moment she approaches the Ambassador. "Ambassador, I suggest that we contact the Council and let them know that the Girty Lou is friendly and besides I think it would be frowned upon if our civilizations got off on the wrong foot because of the arrival of a Scout Ship." Udina could only nod dumbly in response to the Scout Ship part, but he did request immediate contact with the Council.

Within moments the holograms of the Citadel Council appeared before those gathered in the Human Embassy.

_What is the meaning of this? We have an unknown possibly hostile battleship that has appeared from an anomaly and you are calling our attention away from what could easily turn into a battle._

Stepping forward Laura stood before the holograms "Councilors, the ship that has appeared is the Girty Lou under the command of Commander Alexandra Kelms. The Girty Lou is the first of my government's ships to arrive here in Citadel space." The Councilors looked to one another before the Turian faced Laura.

_Captain, you should let your ships know that pulling a stunt like creating that energy anomaly and moving towards the Citadel at FTL speeds could easily get them killed by the fleet. You're just lucky that your battleship did not show any aggression thus far._

"Councilors, I will ask that our ships respectively cut speed to one quarter light speed for maximum sub-light travel. Additionally, for your knowledge the Girty Lou is a Titan class Recon/Scout Ship or the First Fleet; a Phoenix class Battleship is a standard two thousand five hundred meters long. Other then the Icarus and Prometheus class ships a Titan class is the smallest of our capital ships being deployed." Shock once more reigned as my words sunk in, the fact that what they believed to be a battleship is in reality one of the smallest ships being sent here is cause for them to rethink about the incoming fleet.

_Thank you Captain, if that is all we will be prepared to receive your Ambassador within the hour._

Just before the Council could disconnect, Laura spoke up "Actually this is one more piece of business that the Council should be made aware of." The council members looked to each other and with a nod of agreement the Asari looked at Laura.

_Yes Captain and what would this piece of business be?_

"We have received a message from the outpost;" taking a breath Laura steeled herself and "Apparently for the past fifty thousand years the outpost has been inhabited."

_Understandable, I am surprised that you did not inform us of this earlier._

Looking to Udina for a moment, I face the Council again and without hesitation say "Actually we have only recently learned about the population. The message we received is from the Prothean Peoples Republic, members of the Council the message is from surviving Protheans." This left the Council stunned silent from the mention that there are Protheans that are still alive.

* * *

**  
Location: **Serpent Nebula – Fifteen Kilometers from the Citadel  
**Ship: **Titan class – Girty Lou  
**Time: Immediately after coming out of LSD Jump**

In her command chair Commander Alexandra Kelms looks out the view port at the Citadel and the backdrop of the M12 Milky Way galaxy Serpent Nebula. The nebula itself surprisingly similar to the one located back in GRA space, all safe for the fleet of ships and the city-ship size space station. The Serpent Nebula back home is a nature preserve of space dwelling life that had somehow managed to survive the centuries of the Gou'ld and other space-faring species.

Not for the first time Alex wished that they could explore much like their civilian counterparts of Star Fleet, but she took the oath to protect the innocent. Standing next to her in his holographic form is the recently promoted Colonel Mu, one of the few AIs serving as ship XO. Mu closed his eye analyzing the data being feed from the sensors, "Alex, it looks like we spooked them."

Looking at her friend for the past nearly thirty years, Alex cracks a smile at his joke; the Titan class were nearly never seen except for large fleet engagements and even then the enemy would normally miss seeing the ship as little of the outer haul showed anything but the darkest black making the class all but invisible to the naked eye.

Here they are seen as some kind of imposing force; surrounded by ships that for the most part barely might have the five hundred meter haul length. Looking back to the ships before them, Alex noticed a ship near the size of an Excalibur class Gunship. Off in the distance Mu notes the presence of the Truth's Light and how it has kept a distance from the Citadel.

Alex taking in what she can for the moment began shouting orders, "Ensign, contact the Truth's Light and inform them that we are here to secure the outpost and setup communications between ourselves and this Citadel Council mentioned in there last report." Turning to her tactical officer, "Get me as much on those ships as you can and perform an in-depth sensor scan of the station and full sweep of this nebula." Turning to the crewman near the bridge hatch, "Crewman, bring Ambassador Archer to the bridge."

Several minutes pass as the crew carry out their orders; during this time all but the largest of the ships protecting the Citadel withdraw to a greater distance. As she watches the ships outside, Alex has to wonder why these Reapers that she had been briefed on could be considered such a threat to deploy a third of the First Fleet. During her contemplation GRA Ambassador Henry Archer enters the bridge; the young man being one of the youngest to be an Ambassador of the GRA had made his career out of maintaining friendships with the Nox and Re'tu during the past five years. He was the first of the Archer line, his father being a Star Trek fan had named him after his favorite character from the genre.

"Commander, is there a reason why we have not official contacted the Citadel yet?" Looking at the much younger man, Alex had to remember that despite his career he had little to no experience outside of home or allied space. Despite his lack of First Contact experience, Alex had decided to put faith that has time with the Nox would give him the needed abilities to deal with this new government.

Just as Ambassador Archer was to speak again a communication came through that a shuttle is to bring their representative over to the Citadel to meet with the Council. For Alex this meet that just one part of her mission has been completed, but the mission is far from complete.

* * *

**  
Next Time: Spectre Induction, Spectres meet Spartans and the Hunt for Saren Begins**

In the next chapter the evidence to remove Saren as a Spectre has been shown to the Council, but with Saren in the Terminus Systems the Council refuses to send forces to arrest him. To solve this issue Shepard is inducted as a Spectre; the Spectres encounter the Spartans from the Girty Lou. Anderson steps down from commanding the Normandy to allow Shepard a ship to hunt down Saren. To help from a stronger relationship between the GRA and the Citadel races the engineers from the Girty Lou equip the Normandy with a Pelican sized Hyper-drive and Marine Team-1 from the Truth's Light along with two Spartans joins Shepard and team in their hunt for Saren.


	6. Chapter 6

Apologies for the delay in posting, I have a large number of projects at work that have taken most of my free time and with my recent purchase of Mass Effect 2 new enemies will be present in later chapters. For those who have yet to play ME2 not that any enemies or allies of ME2 that are not already mentioned in Mass Effect will not appear until contact with the Protheans at the Lantean outpost and contact with Vigil on Ilos.

* * *

**  
Spectre Induction, Spectres meet Spartans and the Hunt for Saren Begins**

Stepping into the Puddle Jumper, Alexandra and Ambassador Archer moved to join the JP crew in the forward cabin. The rear cabin that normally can house ten with ease and twenty when needed, at the moment however it will be easily at maximum capacity carrying one squad of marines and one squad of Spartans. The decision to bring the Spartans along was made only after a recent status report provided by Captain Laura Mazikowski and Sergeant Shaper, about these Geth and their version of the Spec-Ops and Sodan cloaking tech.

Taking a seat in one of the spare crew seats Alex's thoughts turned to her surrogate family and the niece that even now was awaiting her arrival on the Citadel. During the seven year journey that both the Girty Lou and Aurora had lead the Colonial Remnants and the EAS Aurora (from a human civilization that the fleet had bypassed), Alex and the surviving crew of her ship had become members of the Aurora's extended family. Alex had not seen Laura for the past few years, having always been deployed on border patrol along hostile neighbors and territories such as Wraith space in Pegasus galaxy.

As she thought about what she and Laura would talk about off duty, she remembered how she used to be like Colonel Hunter. The military breed XO of the Aurora; smirking at the memory of the woman whom on the return home had been given the chance to command one of the newest Tyr class warships, only for her to turn it down in order to remain onboard of the flagship as second in command. Even after the seven years of only having those of the fleet, the hard as nails Colonel had hardly changed but had at the same time allowed her fellow officers into her heart.

Alex turned her thoughts back to the present as the Jumper cleared Girty Lou's rear flight bay and began to make their way for the station called the Citadel. There is surprisingly little information about it in the Forerunner database in either Atlantis or the Asgard database on Halla. The only information about the Citadel itself from the database was that the Protheans had discovered it and decided to use it as their central government. The biggest thing in Alex's mind is that the Shadow Sight had sighted a similar structure in the void near the odd fleet; perhaps it has another function such as Midway's Stargate.

As these thoughts pass, Alex notices the appearance of a fighter escort; the fighters appear to have a sweeping back design to the wings and at the ends are what have to be engines. She studies the ships surrounding the Citadel in closer detail during the approach, with the number of varying ships makes the Citadel appear to be more like the Halo Station at Earth or Midway in the void. Perhaps a friendly relationship can be established, but that is something for Ambassador Archer to work on; her mission is the outpost.

The flight to the Citadel takes only a few minutes due to the clear path between it and the Girty Lou, the escort breaking off as the Jumper nears a landing slip big enough for shuttle based craft. During the landing the pilot orientated the Jumper to allow for the loading ramp to face inwards towards the Citadel. Once the Jumper engines have shut down Alex leaves her seat and enters the rear cabin. "Sergeant we are going to take your entire squad and 781 select two of your Spartans to remain with the Jumper."

Both saluted and within a short few seconds the marines are ready to disembark along with three Spartans with 781 leading them. The first out of the Jumper is the Spartans, following them are the marines and then Alex and Ambassador Archer. Once outside onto the landing slip, Alex notices the nervous stances of the Citadel Security forces; a normal reaction to seeing a Spartan for the first time. The security remained at a distance while a blue skinned woman approached the landing party; turning to fully face the arrival Alex notices that the woman is armed with a pistol.

"You must be Commander Kelms and with you is your Ambassador, am I correct?" Looking at Archer for a moment and getting a head nod in response to her slight question, Alex turns back to the woman. "That is correct, I am Commander Kelms of the Girty Lou and this" while signaling towards Archer, "is Ambassador Henry Archer. He has been selected to represent the Great Races Alliance government."

The woman nodded in acceptance, "I am T'Lana of the Asari Republics and a Citadel Council Spectre. If you will follow me, I will lead you to the Citadel Council; Captain Mazikowski and those with her are already before the Council dealing with another matter at the moment." Accepting T'Lana's words, Alex motioned for their escort to follow them as T'Lana led them out of the landing area.

**

* * *

  
Citadel Council Chambers**

After learning that the unknown battleship is one of the ships that they had allowed access to Citadel Space through Captain Mazikowski; the Council members decided to focus on the Geth and the meeting requested by Ambassador Udina. Entering the Council Chambers with the Human Ambassador is of course Captains Mazikowski and Anderson along with their suburbanites. Following them is Nihlus along with a Krogan, but their attention is drawn to the Quarian that is beside the C-Sec officer amongst the group.

Seeing a Quarian has been rare since the loss of their home-world to the Geth over three centuries ago; the Quarians had been all but removed from the Citadel since they had created the Geth. Their embassy removed and no race of the Citadel would help them, over the years they had become the dirges of galactic society. 'Now one of those things dares to show itself here on the Citadel,' are the thoughts of the Turian representative. The Salarian is curious and the Asari is saddened; the Asari representative had been a part of the Citadel Council when the decision to expunge the Quarians for creating AIs.

Looking at the collective group before them the Turian starts with "Now then, can one of you explain how there are Geth here on the Citadel or why there is a Quarian with you?" The question brought mixed reactions; the Human Ambassador remained claim while the others had varying expressions of either confusion for the strangely dressed humans or slight angry from the others. The sight of angry adorning Nihlus' features put the Turian representative off guard, but did little to answer the asked question.

Stepping forward Captain Anderson spoke "Councilors, Miss Zorah has evidence of Saren's betrayal and has volunteered to examine the Geth remains we have secured to determine how they have gained access to the Citadel." During Anderson's answer, Tali opened her omni-tool and readied the audio log of Saren's speech to play; behind her faceplate Tali couldn't help but smile at what Captain Anderson had said about her offering to help them with learning how the Geth had accessed the Citadel.

Playing the audio file, the Councilors could no longer ignore the fact that Saren had indeed betrayed them and with the voice of Matriarch Benezia the choice was clear. Saren was now officially striped of his status as a Citadel Council Spectre, but because of his location in the Terminus Systems the Council would do nothing to stop him. After a minute or so of yelling by Ambassador Udina, Commander Shepard stepped forward and offered a solution; he would be induced as a Council Spectre to give the Ambassador his Human Spectre and the Council could send him after Saren. All parties easily agreed and Shepard was made a Citadel Council Spectre; this allowed the Council to focus on the Geth infiltration of the Citadel.

"Now that Shepard is a Spectre, we need to focus on the Geth and why they have appeared on the Citadel at the same time as a Quarian." The Turian Representative voiced to the others; on the other side of the chambers the Star Forces officers look to one another trying to understand why Tali being on the Citadel should matter in relation to the Geth. Wroth turning to Tali decided to voice his question, "Tali, why should it matter if you or one of your people is on the Citadel at the same time as the Geth?" For Wroth and the others the appearances of Tali and the Geth are separate occurrences.

Tali for a moment was quite before looking to her new found friends, and that is what she considered Genray, Wroth and the other Star Forces members. They had without asking, without second thought accepted her amongst them; while other humans and the other Citadel races would shun her, they had seen her as a person whom had in no way harmed them in the past or committed any crime. Hoping that they would not shun her, she answered "My people created the Geth three hundred years ago. Some years after we first created them, the Geth evolved and my people tried to destroy them; in the end we failed and lost our home-world and were forced to leave the Citadel. Our Embassy removed and all Quarians were ordered to leave, after that none of the Citadel races would even allow us near their space and we have been living within the Migrant Fleet ever since."

The reaction Tali received was far different than what she was expecting, instead of shunning her like the other races of Citadel space the reaction of the exact opposite. The female marines and Captain Mazikowski had looks of sympathy, with the one of them offering Tali a hug. The males all had looks of angry and disgust directed towards the Citadel Council, Sergeant Shaper angrily saying "Bastards, they should have offered to help you instead of exiling your people. That is almost as bad as what happened with the Asurans over ten thousand years ago." Shaper had spoken loudly enough for everyone in the Council Chambers to hear him, the Council members looked at him, the Turian with angry, but both the Asari and Salarian with odd questioning looks.

The Asari Representative looked towards Shaper, "Sergeant Shaper, the Quarians created AIs that had attempted to destroy them but they had also broken Citadel law regarding the Creation of AIs. I would have preferred a different method, but the Quarians had to be punished for their actions. But I am more interested in these Asurans you mentioned and this incident that happened Ten Thousand years ago." Shaper looked to his CO and after receiving her permission stepped forward and spoke.

"Councilors, my people have been called many things of the millennia; some races call us the Ancients, others the Forerunners. What we are called doesn't matter, but we made a mistake similar to the Quarians over ten thousand years ago. During the war against a species called the Wraith, we created a weapon that would attack the Wraith on the genetic level. On the planet Asuras the nanite weapon evolved into a sentient race we now call the Asurans, the heads of the project under orders of the Atlantis Council attempted and apparently destroyed the Asurans. Then ten thousand years later we discovered we were wrong and that the Asurans had survived and thrived in Pegasus for all those millennia."

Pausing to let the information sink in before he continues, "Less than a year after our return to Pegasus, we found the Asurans and nearly went to war with them due to the mistakes of our ancestors. We were lucky that at the time that we had three Replicators amongst of population that helped bridge our two peoples together to prevent a galaxy wide war. Unlike the Quarians, my people had only a handful of allies and they were all occupied with their own wars or internal threats to help us, I have to wonder why none of your peoples offered to help the Quarians."

Shaper's words had an effect on everyone present; Udina looked at the Council thinking would they leave humanity without aid like they did the Quarians. Captain Anderson wondered the same as Udina, Williams and Alenko were both disgusted at the possibility that the Council would do that and realized that they had acted the same way towards the Quarians as everyone else. Commander Shepard and Nihlus both hung their heads in shame as did Garrus; the Turian Representative glared at Shaper in angry, with the Salarian Representative looking away for a moment before looking back towards Tali.

Before anyone could respond to Shapers words, the sound of heavy boots hitting the deck plating of the Citadel Tower is heard. Shaper being most familiar with the sound mutters one word "Spartans." Everyone turns in the direction of the sound; Tali, is the first to come face the three armored giants, each easily the size of a Geth Prime. Tali, stumbles forward and just before she can fall, she is caught by the lead Spartan; 781 looking at her through his polarized visor asks "Are you alright ma'am?" Looking at the armored face she merely nods and in a low voice says "Thank you".

Everyone one save for the Star Forces members stares at the Spartans in surprise and fear; the three seven foot tall armored behemoths giving an imposing feeling with their presence. 781, turns to face something behind him and nods his head; immediately a squad of marines join the Spartans followed shortly by an Asari and two humans. Captain Mazikowski and her marines stand at attention and salute; Laura crisply speaks "Commander Kelms, Ma'am. Welcome to the Citadel." Alexandra salutes them and Laura and her marines stand at ease, "Captain, good job. Ambassador Archer and I will take things from here, but I want you to stay for the duration of this meeting."

Laura crisply salutes once more with a response of "Yes Ma'am", before once more standing at ease. Alex looks to Ambassador Archer to start things off; the Ambassador nods his thanks and begins "Greetings Councilors of the Citadel, I am Ambassador Henry Archer of the Great Races Alliance. I thank you on behalf of my government the chance to extend the hand of friendship between us and hope for a long and fruitful relationship." At the end of his greeting Ambassador Archer bows before the Council; the Turian and Asari Representatives nod in approval and the Salarian comments that he is an excellent speaker.

Each of the Councilors whisper to each other for a moment and then the Asari speaks "Ambassador Archer, we thank you for your humble greeting. We would like to know more about your government, for example can you tell us about your capital or home-world?" Without pause Ambassador Archer stands up to face the Councilors and replies "Yes, I am from Sol-Terra III also known as Earth of the Milky Way Galaxy of the M6 galactic group." Archer is cut off by the Turian snorting "So you are Systems Alliance after all. As I thought, the humans are playing us to get more attention." Udina and Anderson look incensed at the slight against their people; Archer speaks quickly to try and clear up the obvious misunderstanding.

"Representative, my Earth is located nearly ten million light years from this galaxy. The GRA is a multi-galaxy government with capitals located in Milky Way, Ida and Pegasus galaxies of the M6 galactic group. The majority of our member races have been space faring civilizations for the past thousand years, with the elder races such as the Asgard and Lanteans having tens of thousands of years to millions of years of space faring history. If you would like we can provide a First Contact Package for you to review to learn more about us." The more the Ambassador spoke, the more the Councilors began to realize that this man knew nothing about them or the history of the Systems Alliance with the Citadel races.

The next words that left Archer's mouth is what caused the next frenzy as he said "Perhaps we can have Colonel Mu our ship-borne AI transfer cultural data about the GRA to the Citadel's AI." This caused the entirety of the Council along with Udina and the others of Citadel space to back away in shock and concern. The Salarian Representative looked at Archer and asks "Ambassador, are you saying that you have an AI onboard your ship?" Without thought about the full reason for the reaction Archer replies yes to the asked question not fully understanding their reaction to the Girty Lou's XO.

The Asari looking at the GRA Ambassador with worry asks "Do you need assistance in deleting the AI?" Alex looks at the woman with furry in her eyes, "Why would I want to KILL my XO and good friend of the past thirty years? Why would you people react like that and why ask if we need to kill one of our citizens?" Alex's questions caused yet another frenzy to overtake the Council, each Councilor looking at the Commander with questioning looks as if daring her to claim that she is insane.

Once more the Asari speaks with "Commander, did you just say that the AI is a citizen of your government?" Alex looks straight at the Asari and response "Yes, Mu is a full citizen of the GRA with all the rights that any other citizen organic or inorganic alike have." Ambassador Archer steps in with "Representatives, the GRA is a foreign Star Nation that exists outside of Citadel space and thus we do not fall under Citadel laws. Any laws you have in regards to AIs or any artificial life might not have a counterpart amongst our government. We had assumed that since you have biomechanoids as maintenance staff that you would also have AIs operating within your network systems."

Before the Turian Representative could say a word the Asari spoke "For the time-being we will put aside the issue with you bringing an AI into Citadel space as you were not aware of our laws regarding AIs. You have given us much to think about and so for the time-being we will adjourn to reflect on what you have told us. If you would also have an organic officer transmit this First Contact Package of yours for us to review also; until we are ready to continue this meeting you may use the Systems Alliance Embassy." With that the Councilors dismissed the gathered group and moved off to the side to speak with each other silently.

As they reached the bottom of the stairs Udina was incensed, the Council had unilaterally given half of his office to this extra-galactic human, but at least he is human. Tali on the other hand became even more interested in the GRA; the fact that they give their AI's full rights as citizens was something that she was certain that the Quarians had never thought to do with the Geth from three hundred years ago. T'Lana herself turned to Shepard and Nihlus, "Congratulations Commander Shepard and welcome to the Spectres." Nihlus motioning towards T'Lana, "Shepard this is T'Lana a fellow Spectre"; Shepard extended his hand to greet his now fellow Spectre.

As each of the new arrivals spoke with each other with Wrex trying to size up the Spartans and clearly enjoining the reactions or better yet lack of, Udina and Anderson had moved off for a few moments to speak privately. Tali decided to ask "Are you a machine like the Geth?" 781 in which Tali had addressed with her question tilted his head to the left, the Spartan form of a grin and "No, I am organic for the most part but ONI erases all information on our identities in order to ensure our safety and the safety of any possible family." Tali had a shocked response; these people altered their own for some reason.

781 shrugged and then "For example, I am certain your large friend hitting on 893 might enjoin himself if he ever manages to get her out of her armor." That caught Tali and Wrex by surprise; Wrex looked back at 893 and chuckled, he hadn't even realized that the warrior he was sizing up and finding acceptable is actually a female. Looking 893 directly in the visor Wrex "Perhaps we can find some Geth to crush and see how good you really are in order to wear that armor?" 893 returned his chuckle and replies "Might be a good first date, other than you the only ones to offer such dates are the Klingons back home; I just hope you can keep up in the heat of it all."

Wrex did not even bother to hold in his amusement and laughed loudly before turning to Wroth with a smile "Wroth, your people are definitely worth knowing in my book. To find that even your females are such warriors is wondrous, not that many races would allow their females to fight as such warriors as your Spartans appear to be." Tali too had to wonder about the GRA if they did this to both male and female alike, but 781's words said something more to her; they said that the Spartans had volunteered for such changes. Perhaps she could ask Ambassador Archer if the GRA could help her people, after all Shaper had said that his people had gone through something similar as her own people had.

Before Tali could move towards Ambassador Archer, Commander Kelms stepped before her; the human Commander is taller than her by at least a foot being as Tali is still just barely an adult. "You must be Tali'Zorah Nar Rayya, I am Commander Alexandra Kelms. Captain Laura Mazikowski and Private Callen Genray tell me that you are the current resident Geth expert; perhaps you can assist my engineers on the Girty Lou with examining the Geth remains that Private Genray has secured." Tali could only nod dumbly until she realized what the Commander was saying and asking of her; she was being given not only full access to the Geth remains but access to possibly a lab with the tools to properly study the Geth.

Stuttering for a moment Tali answers "Yes, my people created the Geth and I would be more than willing to assist your engineers in studying the Geth remains. I can begin once I gather some items here on the Citadel." Alex placed her hand on Tali's shoulder "We can provide everything you might need, just tell me what we need for you. Obviously we need to outfit one of the guest quarters with a decontamination shield and set the environmental systems for your species so you will have a breathable atmosphere so you can remove your environment suit when you are relaxing or need to sleep. And I am certain we need sterilized water and food compatible with your physiology, is there anything else you might need for you time not studying the Geth?"

Tali could only look at the Commander before her; not only was this human woman giving her the chance to study the Geth remains in a proper lab setting, but is providing for her every need during her stay aboard the human ship and that is with a room being decontaminated and then filled with Quarian based air to breath to allow her to remove her environment suit. Not even in the flotilla were there such things, but for an alien ship and crew to go to such measure to provide for her speaks volumes of how they feel about aliens. "Thank you Commander, I would be more than happy to provide you with the information." And in that moment Tali realized that she is happy, not only was Genray and the others she had first meet such good friends, but now someone she had just meet is offering her so much for something she was going to try to do anyway filled her with hope and joy.

Commander Shepard stepped forward after hearing the conversation held between Commander Kelms and Tali; he had been hoping to ask Tali to join his team since he would need an expert on the Geth. "Tali, I am glad that you have accepted Commander Kelms offer, it was just I was hoping for your help seeing as we are going to be facing the Geth during our search for Saren. But I understand that you are needed here to study the Geth." Tali was now conflicted, not only did Commander Kelms need her help but also Commander Shepard wants her help.

"I am sorry Commander Shepard, but thank you for understanding my acceptance of Kelms Vas Girty Lou's; oh sorry I mean Commander Kelms offer." Alex gave a small smile while looking at Tali "Tali, go ahead and refer to me with what you are comfortable with. I myself prefer my native language of Japanese meaning I would call you Tali-san, so if calling my Kelms Vas Girty Lou is comfortable for you then by all means do so." This caught Tali by surprise, once more these people of the GRA were giving her something to help her; she could not help but smile, her pilgrimage is turning out better and better. But she still could not help but feel that she had to help Commander Shepard as well, but before she could voice it Alex once more spoke "Besides more than likely we will need to send you with Commander Shepard every so often to collect more information on the Geth or to try and break through Geth systems."

Both Tali and Shepard smiled at this; Tali could help both her new friends and provide information about the Geth to the Migrant Fleet. Alex looked back to Tali after speaking to Shepard for a moment and says "Tali, when you are on my ship I expect you to speak only in Quarian, we will provide to Commander Shepard translation software that will allow you to understand each other without having to translate in your mind." This caught Tali completely by surprise, the only mentioned restriction to her time on the Girty Lou is to speak only in her native language; but the bigger surprise is that they have software advanced enough to translate Quarian into other languages. Tali whole heartily accepted Kelms Vas Girty Lou's requirement; she is feeling more at home with each passing moment.

Just as this was happening Anderson and Udina rejoined the group and called the Commanders, Spectres and Captain Mazikowski to them to talk. Once gathered Anderson started "Commander Shepard, I am stepping down as the Normandy's captain in order for you to have a ship to go after Saren." "Thank you Sir, I am certain that this isn't easy for you." Commander Shepard said to his long time friend and commanding officer.

"No it's not, but it is what is needed. I suggest that you get you crew together and start looking for Saren's trail. We have at least three worlds that might shed some information, Noveria, Feros and a planet in the Artemis Tau cluster. A Doctor Liara T'Soni is the daughter of Berezina and is at a dig site in one of the systems; unfortunately we don't know which one." Alex stepped forward "Perhaps my ship can help with that, we are equipped with thirty SDU's, short for Sensor Drone Unit. We can deploy them to each of the systems and planets in question and gather more intelligence before deploying forces. Part of my orders is to help extend a bridge of friendship between us and since my ship is a Titan class Recon/Scout ship, why not use it for what she is designed to do."

The gathered individuals smiled at that, "Besides it will take time to equip the Normandy with one of our spare Pelican FTL drives. A limited tech exchange is included in my orders and it would help Commander Shepard reach his objectives faster if he wasn't shackled to the Mass Relay network." Everyone realized right there and then that an agreement had been struck, Shepard would have access to the resources of nearly four galaxies to hunt down and stop Saren; this would be the first step into a whole new world.

**

* * *

  
Next Time: Tali's new Lab, Normandy's Maiden Hyper-space Flight and Rescue Doctor T'Soni**

In the Next Chapter, Tali steps onboard of the Girty Lou for the first time and enters a fantasy world of Technology in the lab provided for studying the Geth. Joker and Engineer Adams comment on the modifications to the Normandy to allow her to fly in hyper-space and their first hyper-space jump occurs when it is determined by SDU scans that Doctor T'Soni is in danger from the Geth. This forces Shepard and team on a rescue mission in order to reach Doctor T'Soni first.


	7. Chapter 7

I apologize for the long delay in updates, with work projects it is hard to get off time; but the worst part is that I had writer's block sorry. Well for those of you whom have waited for it, the next two chapters of Mass Relays and Stargates.

* * *

**Tali's new Lab, Normandy's Maiden Hyper-space Flight and Rescue Doctor T'Soni**

The first thing in Tali's mind when the group reached the docking slips where the Girty Lou's shuttle is stationed was 'they have been so kind, I wonder what it is like where they come from?' Tali had been trying to make sense of Ambassador Archer's claims that the GRA is located in not only another galaxy, but an entirely different galactic group. After trying several times to picture that her new friends traveled across the universe was not that hard, but Tali had to know if she is right and that they use sleeper pods for the long trip.

Turning to face Genray, she found that he moved off towards a human ship with the name Normandy proudly displayed along its haul. For a moment Tali was uncertain if she was to go with Commander Shepard or Kelms, but before she could ask Spartan 781 stopped to stand next to her. "Ma'am, they are going to launch the Normandy and meet us on the Girty Lou." With that 781 continues towards the green cylinder that Tali spotted with two other Spartans guarding, through why they would use two ships to reach the Girty Lou was not know to her.

Following Kelms and the Spartans into the cylinder Tali finds that despite the design differences, the cylinder based shuttle has nearly the same internal space as any shuttle of Citadel space. Taking in the shuttle's internal design, she finds that perhaps have of the available space is for cargo and/or passengers. The two bench like seats on either wall is nearly the length of the cargo/passenger area and above each are cargo nets that can contain any form of small cargo for transport.

Looking for a place to sit, Tali notices that each of the Spartans takes up nearly two positions worth of people on the benches. Moving to one side to make room for people to pass, Tali is able to glance into the forward compartment where the pilot is stationed. What she can see of the controls gains her complete interest to the point in which she has miss the attempts of the young Flight Corporal to get her attention. It is only when he steps partially into her line of sight that Tali finally notices his presence and jumps back in surprise.

"Ma'am, sorry about surprising you like that, but the Commander would like you to join us in the forward compartment." Tali, not trusting her voice for the moment nods and then follows him into the forward compartment and takes the empty seat that he escorts her towards. As everyone aboard the ship prepares to launch, another hidden being manages to slip on board just before the hatch seals shut. At the same time on the Normandy another being, this one disguised as a tech of the Systems Alliance silently worries about his partner on the alien shuttle. Both ships launch from the Citadel and make their way to the Girty Lou.

* * *

**Citadel Council Asari Representative Office**

After watching both the Girty Lou shuttle and Human Systems Alliance vessel Normandy clear the Citadel C-Sec docking area, the Representative switches off the security feed. It had been forty-five minutes since the Council meeting with the Systems Alliance and this GRA had been dismissed. She was quite impressed with how quickly Commander Kelms and Ambassador Archer had gotten the First Contact Package sent to the Citadel.

Reading the information contained had taken the better part of the past half hour and that is only the basic information such as the general descriptions of the member races and recent history. Inari actually had a flashback to when they had first encountered the Systems Alliance when she read the section about the Tua'ri. Never once had she considered that humans were so far spread throughout the cosmos, but here in front of her is digital proof of humans living outside of known space. She was finding it difficult to wrap her mind around the fact that humans exist outside of known space, but the more she read the more things about these people started to scare her.

The first being that the Lanteans whom have been known by at least seven varying names, the Ancients, the Ancestors, the Lords of Kobol, the Forerunners, the Alterrans and the Lanteans and one odd entry calling them the Time Lords. The Time Lords section stating that one of their own had broken their laws in regards to time travel and had contaminated a primitive culture with information about their world's future. The world in question is marked as a restricted area and that travel there will be denied until the GRA year of 6387; honestly Inari did not know if the restriction was still in effect, but did smile about trying to prevent any further damage.

Before she could go back to reading the package, the door chime sounds and thumbing the controls on her desktop. The door opened to reveal the Salarian Representative Robert Solus, the Salarians taking human names recently then when she first joined the Council. His Omni-Tool active and displaying what could only be the same package that is displayed on her desk, Robert moves to sit across from Inari.

"Inari, have you managed to read about these people beyond the general information located at the opening of the package?" Taking her silence as his answer he continues speaking "They have developed along an entirely different path technologically speaking. What they have mentioned of their technology shows no use or even mention of Element Zero, but their table of elements has mention of several similar materials located throughout their space." Inclining her head as a sign for him to continue, she opened the display to the same section as Robert on his Omni-Tool.

"Their drive technology center around the use of Mass Effect fields, but the generation based off of the information provided is through a method not to dissimilar to our own. But the lack of Element Zero and the use of space time subspace strata show a level of scientific understanding that only the Protheans have even come close to. Even if half of what their history says is true, then these people are not as constrained as we are; we are bound to the Mass Relays for intra-cluster travel, they are not." Inari and Robert shared a look for a moment.

Continuing with another piece of information "Then there is this Stargate Network of theirs; I have read everything about it that they have provided and what I have come to understand frightens me greatly." This caused Inari to give her colleague a look of shock and surprise, mostly due to the fact that most Salarians show more interest that fear. "Robert, what do you mean? For all the years I have known you, you have never expressed fear openly without logic or interest involved."

Not waiting an instant, he replies "Inari, this Stargate Network might be the basis of the Mass Relays." This caught Inari with surprise; these people might have been the cause of the Protheans constructing the Mass Relays to match this Stargate Network. Robert waited in silence while Inari looked for the information on the Stargates; he was rewarded with the shocked expression on her face. Looking promptly at him she was barely able to stutter out "Over fifty million years?" Robert could only nod his head in response, it came as quite a shock to him that these people claim that the Stargate Network is over fifty million years old.

The only thing that either feared more than the possibility of this information being true is how the Turians would react when they found that the Systems Alliance might be connected to these people as very distant cousins. This fear only grew stronger when Robert pointed out the section of the Lanteans history stating that for a time they were a space wondering race and this only reminded them of the current lot of the Quarians. Hopefully their fears will be unfounded with information showing that the Lanteans had not been able to affect the Citadel space worlds of humanity.

How little do they realize that one fundamental truth of Murphy's Law of 'What can happen will more then likely occur' will be waiting to strike when they are not ready.

* * *

**SSV Normandy immediately after leaving the Citadel**

Joker couldn't keep the smile off of his face, he hated sitting around for any length of time and the only thing that could help with the feeling of sitting still is flying. But he had to wait until given the order for Normandy to launch from the Citadel, so when he got the order to take the Normandy barely two hundred thousand kilometers out from the Citadel he smiled. Barely a stretch of the legs but infinitely better then just sitting there, Joker and most of the crew had no idea what to expect during the approach to the alien battleship.

Pressly and most of the Normandy's senior staff outside of Engineer Adams and Doctor Chakwas had all but crowded the bridge right behind him to catch a better view of the alien ship. Just as they had done back on Eden Prime, except then they were a bit more sedated about it then now and the Captain was not on board. Luckily Joker knew why the Captain had missed this little rump was due to the fact that the Commander would be taking command of the Normandy for some political bullshit or something equally as bad.

Personally Joker can accept the Commander as the new CO, but for Captain Anderson to be reassigned just after their first mission as a crew does not sit well with him. Already rumors are spreading that the Commander had been given Spectre status to deal with another Spectre and that this little rump to the alien ship and Captain Anderson's reassignment is related to that. Shaking himself clear of wild thoughts, Joker spotted something along the forward haul, barely able to make it out even with his greater attention to detail. The dark color of the haul in comparison to the strange thing towards the bow shows some kind of lettering; instantly Joker puts it together, the spot he is looking at is the ship's nameplate.

Having some of the same letters of the Truth's Light, Joker compares the names and is able to make out "irt Lu". Not realizing he had spoken aloud until Pressly turns to him "What was that Joker?" Dividing his attention, "Sir it has the same writing as the Truth's Light and I am able to see a few letters in common. They spell out irt Lu but most of the nameplate is written with something else but has to be the same language. This ship has to be from the same people as the Truth's Light". With that now Pressly tries to make out the nameplate that Joker has obviously found along the haul.

Not able to find it Pressly is about to have Joker point it out to him when Private Chambers from Truth's Light walks up to them. "Navigator Pressly, Helmsman Moreau. That is the Girty Lou." Joker looks towards her for a moment, even with the helmet on he can make out her red hair that is barely visible. She had stood near by during their approach to the Citadel after taking the Truth's shuttle aboard after coming through the Relay.

Sensing his unspoken question Chambers, "The Captain asked me to assist you during docking with the Girty Lou. I have some flight training despite the fact that I have not been able to apply for Officer's Training." Both Pressly and Joker nodded in understanding, Pressly having undergone Officer's Training and Joker knowing full well that he would never make the cut. Waving her to take one of the Co-Pilot seats before turning back to controlling the Normandy's approach, Joker is able to make out her surprise on display.

"You need some help?" he offered to the marine now sitting next to him. The look on her face is priceless until her response "If you don't mind, we don't use holographic interfaces for much beyond displays and certainly not as operation controls." This caught both Pressly and Joker, everyone both in and outside of Citadel space use holographic interface controls with humans using it barely over a hundred years since discovery of the Prothean ruins on Mars. But to hear that the Truth's Light whom is apparently advanced beyond the level of the Normandy does not have holographic interfaces that are a common technology in known space.

Joker taking the chance asks "What do you guys use then, a keyboard and mouse?" The last part being more of a joke then a serious question, the look he sported with her response caused Pressly to laugh at his expense. "Yes, that is exactly what we use is a keyboard system." Pressly barely even registered the reply, while Joker had to make sense of how someone advanced enough to build a ship like the Truth's Light would use something as low tech as keyboards.

Before Joker could begin to put together his next question, movement from the underside of the Girty Lou grabs his attention. A light source makes itself known with an every growing display as some kind of cargo doors opened to reveal a ship leaving the Girty Lou. The small ship was slightly larger than the Normandy and is smoother in appearance with little to no edges, save for where the upper and lower hauls meet. Using the Normandy's visual scanners to get a better look Joker begins to make out glowing blue and red sections near the, what could be the rear of the ship on both sides.

Private Chambers lets out a whistle just before saying "That is a beauty; the Starfleet engineers really out did themselves designing that ship class." Both Joker and Pressly exchanged glances for a moment before Pressly asked "I thought that you are Star Forces and what is Starfleet?" Not even taking her eyes off of the ship clearing the Girty Lou, "The military is the Galactic Star Forces, but our government setup and placed under civilian control our Exploration Arm the Galactic Starfleet. That ship is a diplomatic cruiser known as a Wells class starship; she carries a standard crew of twenty at least seven of which are Ambassador Archer's staff. The class has three decks and is seventy-five meters from bow to stern and she has a maximum FTL speed of warp six."

Joker chuckled at her response and stealing a quick glance "Sounds like you're a ship fan. Can you tell us how fast that warp six thing is?" Chambers response was nearly immediate with "Warp Six is roughly three hundred and ninety-two times the speed of light or about forty thousand PSL give or take." Silence was all she got for a moment until both Pressly and Joker made a 'WHA' sound; this caused Chambers to turn to see a stunned Joker and a paling Pressly.

Joker stammered for a moment before saying "How; that is nearly twice our top speed and the Normandy is the fastest ship in the Alliance. How can a ship that is barely twenty meters bigger then us be twice as fast?" Pressly just shook his head in aspiration of Joker's attitude, since being assigned as the Normandy's helmsman only a few weeks ago Joker had all but claimed the ship as his own. Pushing that aside for the time being and focusing on Chambers explanation about how the slightly larger ship is faster than the Normandy.

"Well, Starfleet ships use an FTL methodology of creating a depression into subspace and riding the subspace wave currents created by that depression. As your Engineer Adams explained to me, you use the Mass Effect core to generate a field around the Normandy to lower her mass until it is nearly zero. From there you like the Star Forces use your normal space drive to push yourselves to FTL speed; this is where Starfleet FTL of Warp Drive is different. Warp drive pushes against subspace as the means of locomotion but they do not use their normal space drives to achieve this, but as I said they use depressions into subspace to archive FTL speeds allowing them to go faster than either Mass Effect drives or Star Forces normal space drives can reach."

During the conversation Joker pulls the Normandy into place where the Wells class had just vacated, directly below the docking bay hatch on the underside of the Girty Lou. Within minutes of the signal to cut thrust, the Normandy is pulled inside and the entire process lost to Joker as he pays rapid attention to Private Chambers as she talks about the Starfleet ship. While in CIC Commander Shepard is having a similar conversation with Captain Mazikowski about the equipment loan of the Normandy's new hyper-drive.

* * *

**Girty Lou Rear Landing Bay**

After departing the shuttle Tali turns around to get a full view of the docking area; many of the people in view are like Kelms and the others. Turning back to rejoin Kelms, Tali stops short of one of the human crew that appears to be talking with Kelms; turning to acknowledge Tali, Kelms "Tali, let me introduce you to my Executive Office Colonel Mu." Taking a step back Tali stares in surprise; from her point of view Mu looks nothing like an AI, but he was mentioned in the Citadel Council chambers as the ship's AI. Both Mu and Kelms ignore Tali's fear of AIs for the moment as Mu turns his head towards the nearby bulkhead for a moment, at the nod of his head "Ma'am, we just achieved two way contact with the outpost. Major Sterling is requesting our presence to speak with the Protheans."

Getting a nod in acknowledgement, Mu's form disappears from view while Kelms turns to the Jumper Flight crew. "Corporal Kros," her call is answered by the same human that had brought Tali to the front of the small ship back on the Citadel. Now standing before them the young man stands at attention, "Corporal, I want you to take this storage module and escort Tali to Science Lab Charlie. Once there inform Lieutenant Jefferson that Tali is to have unrestricted access to the item in the storage module and other than that it is still her lab. After which report to the Quartermaster and have one of the quest quarters setup for non-carbon life with sterilization of the environment on a constant for Tali's health, have the CMO involved."

With a salute, "Yes Ma'am" and with a questioning expression "Ma'am, her lab?" Kelms handed the module to the Corporal and responded with that it is Lieutenant Jefferson's private business; getting a nod in reply Kelms left the landing bay for the bridge. During the exchange Tali tried to make sense of some of the expressions shown by both humans, but to last part went without understanding for her. The Corporal motioned for her to follow him and together they left the landing bay, the trip to the science lab showed that the ship design is towards utility and function. Terminals lined the walls every so often with access panels all long the entirety, her curiosity getting the better of her "Excuse me Corporal, but what did you mean when you asked 'her lab?'"

Stopping to look at Tali for a moment, "When I came on board for my first tour, I meet Lieutenant Jefferson. I had gotten lost considering that I came directly from the Academy I had never been on a Titan class ship before. I had gotten myself lost and ended up in Science Lab Charlie, Lieutenant Jefferson was at a terminal when I entered and assumed that I was delivering lunch from the mess hall." Breaking for a moment to allow her to say anything on her mind; with her silence he continues "Well to make a long story short when I mentioned that I come aboard only an hour before and that I was lost, well lets just say the he was not as understanding as the other crew." This caused Tali to stare at him for a moment processing the end of his story about meeting Lieutenant Jefferson.

It took her only a moment before asking "You said he, but Captain Kelms said her; is Lieutenant Jefferson a man or woman?" Shrugging his shoulders, "Who knows; when I meet the Lieutenant, he was definitely a man but that might not be correct now." Turning back to continue the Corporal barely made it five feet before Tali asked "Is it that normal that you can just ignore something that you think is inconsistent with your memory of someone." Looking in deep thought for a moment he looked back to Tali "Well to be honest we have some weird stuff back home; a good example is when I was a kid, I had a best friend that grew up with me until his parents got a divorce. We were brothers in all but blood, but his mom moved them to Amalias Colony; I didn't see him again until we both entered the Academy to join the Star Forces."

Pausing for a moment to collect his thoughts, "At first I didn't realize it was my best friend Sam until we bumped into each other and Sam remembered me." Tali interrupted him for a moment with "He must have changed a great deal for you not to recognize him." Shaking his head while motioning her to continue following him through the corridors, "You're right Sam did change, you don't hear a lot about Amalias Colony unless you live there. Apparently the have this weird law and since all colonies are allow to self govern, nearly no one outside of the colony knows about this law." Stopping while some of the crew pass by, he waits for them to be out of hearing range before continuing.

Taking a quick look he pulls Tali aside into a side corridor, "What I am about to say is not to be repeated to anyone. Sam took a great risk telling me and I am doing the same now, since this is not my Milky Way and Amalias is millions of light years away I am hoping this won't get back to them." Tali looked surprised for a moment, was this human truly about to impart information so classified that it could break their laws and why was he even trusting her with this. Getting silence from Tali, he looked to the main corridor for a moment before "On Amalias there is a law stating that no male over the age of fifteen is allow to live in the colony. Since legally on most colonies and home-worlds the youngest age for adults is eighteen, they couldn't force him to leave, but at the same time no male was allow to stay. So since the Amalias minimum age of adulthood is sixteen they gave him a choice to leave of become a true member of the colony."

"I won't mince words and get straight to it; they injected him with a RNA retrovirus to alter his body and made him into a full citizen of the colony." Now Tali was worried, what could this colony have done to this Sam person and why it would leave the Corporal before her open to strange things. "Miss Tali, my friend's name when we were boys was Samuel Earnest Wilder; the name Sam goes by now is Samantha Emily Wilder. Apparently Amalias is what we call an ultra-feminist colony, meaning no men; Sam was a victim of circumstance since the colonies are allow to self govern and according to the colony she made the choice to become a woman." Tali was speechless, these people are definitely different than the peoples of Citadel space; to think that they have such things that are allowed in their space.

Moving back towards the main corridor something hit Tali's mind, "Why are you telling me this? I mean what have I done to earn your trust?" Without looking back he replies "Nothing, I just thought it might be helpful to be open minded in order to not be caught off guard by anything you might find weird. Back home this stuff is normal and other than Amalias keeping the law a secret it is widely accepted by everyone." Taking a moment to digest that, Tali has one more question "Why will you be in trouble if the people of Amalias learn that you told someone about this law of theirs?" Looking back to her with a smile on his face "Like with the Lieutenant it is private, but let's just say that Sam and I are closer than ever and they will deny my citizenship request before Sam and I can get married. Do take this advice to heart is to be open minded and be willing to accept that we are different from what you know."

The remainder of the trip was made in silence, but the whole while Tali's mind was spinning with revelations coming from all directions. First was the immediate acceptance and understanding that Tali and her people are no longer at fault for the Geth. The second is that the technological wonders of a people from so far away that she would have never had known about it during her lifetime. And now the fact that these people can change themselves and that their society was so open minded that male and female can switch roles without stigma of the people at large. Upon entering Science Lab Charlie, Tali was faced with physical evidence of their open minded ways when she was introduce to Lieutenant Jocelyn Jefferson.

* * *

**Bridge**

Upon entering the bridge Alex was able to see the distress on Major Clarissa Sterling's face, to the side Mu is trying his level best to retrain his visible angry. Standing before two of her officers/friends is a eight to eleven foot tall being with tentacles as apart of it's face, the voice sounding like that of a male is dismissed given that some species lack the understandable genders of most humanoids.

_I demand to speak with your Captain immediately, it is a matter of the up most importance and trusting it to anyone else is not acceptable. The knowledge about the constructs that have nearly wiped out my people must be know to your leadership in Atlantis so that they can be prepare to fight them._

Stepping forward Alex places her hand on Clarissa's shoulder in silent request for her to step back. Acknowledging Alex's request Clarissa turns to the being once more "Minister Or'ni, this is my Commanding Officer Alexandria Kelms, Captain of the Girty Lou." With that Or'ni turns to face Alex and before speaking looks her up and down before settling into what could be an expression of mild annoyance.

_Captain, it is good that you are there; when my people detected your ship we began transmitting a message to gain your attention. There is much we need to discuss, but first there is the Reaper threat; the Reapers swept through the galaxy nearly fifty thousand solar rotations ago systematically wiping out my people. Those of us that managed to escape the destruction arrived here at your outpost, but we were unable to use most of the technology present and as thus we were unable to do much beyond simply survive._

Alex listened intently to the minister as he spoke about the Reaper threat and his people's survival up till this point. As he finished the bridge crew was quickly able to discern several facts about the Prothean colony and the outpost; the first being that the outpost itself is still operating as it had been millennia ago. The second is that the Protheans had built their colony around the outpost and that they are actively using the systems capable of interface with non Lanteans.

Before Alex could comment on anything she had just heard, one of the CIC crewmen approached and whispered into her ear the results of a SDU sent into the Artemis Tau cluster. Turning back to Minister Or'ni, "Minister, with your permission we will enter orbit of your colony within the next three hours and can continue our conversation then." The minister quickly gave permission and then ended the communications link; with this Alex began issuing orders.

"Contact the Normandy and inform Commander Shepard of the current status in Artemis Tau; I want the Truth's Light to check out this Feros colony. Open a comm. link to the Citadel and find out when the Council chosen Representative will be ready to transfer aboard." Looking at Mu for a moment, her as of yet question was answered "Alex, I had the SDUs use the Mass Relays." Alex nodded at that, it explained how the SDU in Artemis Tau had gotten there so quickly when it would normally take at least half a day to cover the distance.

During the next forty minutes the Truth's Light followed by the Normandy with both an engineering team and Spartans about in addition the Truth's Marine Team-1 set off. Both ships using the Citadel Mass Relay to cover most of the distance as quickly as possible, the Normandy would still use the Mass Effect FTL until the engineering team completes the install of the Pelican hyper-drive. After both ships had transitioned through the Mass Relay the Council Spectre T'Lana shuttled over from the Citadel and join those on the bridge as the Titan class ship entered hyperspace heading for the outpost and the Protheans.

* * *

**Next Time: Arrival in Artemis Tau and Spartans vs. Geth**

In the Next Chapter, after leaving the Citadel via the Mass Relay the Normandy makes for the world identified at Therum. Commander Shepard and team are witness to the first encounters between the Geth and the Spartan Super Soldiers. As the Spartans handle the Geth above, Shepard and team head into the ruins to locate and rescue Doctor Liara T'Soni. This chapter will revolve around only those about the Normandy, with the next two accompanying chapters focusing on both the Truth's Light and the Girty Lou and their respective missions.


	8. Chapter 8

**Arrival in Artemis Tau and Spartans vs. Geth**

After receiving the message from Commander Kelms, Shepard orders for the Normandy to launch and make for the Artemis Tau Relay. Before the Normandy detached from the Girty Lou, it was agreed between the two Commanders and Captain Mazikowski that the engineering crew installing the Pelican FTL engine and power source would remain on board with marines from Truth's Light. He was still worried about Feros, but Captain Anderson appears to have faith in Captain Mazikowski and so Shepard was going to place his faith in her as well.

As the Normandy interfaced with the Citadel's Relay, the heavy boot steps of the Spartans he encountered in the Council Chambers brought him back to the reality that Commander Kelms wanted him to have access to the super soldiers in case of heavy Geth resistance. Turning to face the Spartan who had just entered CIC, Shepard could not help the overwhelming feeling of abstract fear that shot through him when facing the seven foot tall armored soldier. Shepard's head just barely reaching the Spartan's chin level, he would have to look upwards were it not for the fact the Spartan had stopped several feet from him to allow Shepard to look directly into the visor of the helmet without moving an inch.

On the Spartan's left armored breast plate the number 781, but the symbol on his right breast plate is what is denoting this Spartan as the team leader of the now five Spartans on board the Normandy. Shepard waited for a moment to see if the Spartan would say anything before asking "Is there anything you need to report?" Responding in the same deep voice as before "Sir, Spartan Mark 2 series Super Soldier Team Maelstrom is ready and awaiting orders Sir." Finishing with an at attention salute, Shepard in the corner of his eye sees Pressly grinning about something but pushed it aside for the moment and studied the Spartan before him. The green and black armor having an imposing appearance with scorch marks along his right arm and several dints along the crest and helmet gave the appearance of a battle harden soldier.

"Spartan, what is your name and rank?" The straight forward question should give Shepard some idea of what the Spartans are capable of doing, but the answer he received give him nothing to work with. "Sir, Master Chief 781 Spartan Two series, Rank Sergeant." The cold mechanical response was quick and simple, leaving nothing to try and interrupt from the Spartan, but that in and of itself generated questions in Shepard's mind. The Spartan remained unmoving for nearly another minute before Shepard said dismissed and the Spartan snapped a quick salute, then leaving CIC.

With little to do at the moment in CIC and after confirming with Navigator Pressly that they should arrive at Therum within next nine hours, he decides to speak with Alenko to see how the crew feels about the mission. Taking his time to walk down stairs into the mess area, Shepard approaches Alenko "Alenko, how is the crew doing with the mission thus far?" Turning to salute his commanding officer, "Sir, with all do respect I am not honestly certain how every feels about this." With a signal from Shepard he continues "First the marines under Sergeant Shaper, a lot of the crew seem to be okay with them but that is only because of Eden Prime."

Taking a moment to look around, "Then there is tech guys down in engineering with Adams and his people, but from what I have been hearing most of Adam's guys are starting to feel like there being treated as kids as the new stuff is explained to them. And then we have the Spartans, so far only Wrex and Chief Williams have even tried to get near those guys. I was down there with them for a couple of minutes getting something from my locker and I saw Wrex hitting on the one called 893. Sir, I think out of everyone on board Wrex is the one handling the Spartans the best out of all of us, Williams just seems to glare at them."

Shepard nodded his thanks, Williams' attitude might be an issue later on, but for now there was not much he could do about it. He had spoken with Shaper before they left the Girty Lou that Williams appears to have some anger issues about aliens and the GRA members of the crew are as alien as you can get. With a slight headache popping up, Shepard moves to his quarters to rest off the pain. Before hitting the rack, he sets the desktop alarm to wake him in seven hours.

* * *

**Eight Hours Later**

With less than an hour left before reaching Therum, Shepard goes through the current roster to see who will join him on the surface. The Mako can normally carry fifteen marines along with its three man crew, but the Spartans and Wrex the numbers have to be adjusted. Having Wrex and at least one if not two Spartans would be to his advantage when dealing with the Geth; that would fill six seats leaving eleven remaining for a maximum load. Include Doctor T'Soni and that would leave ten and of course he will need to bring Williams and Alenko as they will need to crew the Mako with him.

That leaves only Garrus and Shaper's squad leaving two empty seats in the Mako; with the amount of fire power available upon landing what ever resistance the Geth might put up should be easily dealt with. Calling for everyone to gather in the Mako Bay, Shepard exited the elevator to find the gathered marines and Spartans; a sight to behold considering that the Normandy normally would only carry ten marines at most. Standing before the group, "Every one, we will reach Therum in less than an hour. What this means is that we will be going down to the planet to locate and extract Doctor T'Soni, in order to complete our mission I am going to be taking the following with me in the Mako. Marine Team-1 under Sergeant Shaper, Garrus Vakarian, Urdnot Wrex and two Spartans from Master Chief's team."

Immediately following this 781 barked out "893 and 1537, you two will accompany the Commander planet-side as part of the selected ground force. Arm up for heavy combat in both open and close quarters." The two named Spartans immediately stepped forward and saluted before taking an at ease stance; shaking his head Shepard turned towards Alenko and Williams "Chief Williams and Alenko will accompany me as part of the Mako operations crew." Before he could continue Joker called out through the intercom vying for his attention.

_Commander, we just received a message from the Asari doctor we're to pickup; looks like the Geth are already on top of her location and are trying to grab her. Before you say anything, I have already floored it and we should reach the planet in about fifteen minutes._

Shepard shaking his head with a heavy sigh, despite Joker's tendency for sarcasm the pilot does understand what needs to be done and does his job well. Looking at the now selected team, "You heard Joker, so get prepped and in the Mako for a combat drop." With that moving to his locker, Shepard took out his armor and moved to the privacy of his quarters to change out of his uniform and into the N7 armor. By the time he returned to the Mako bay, the ground team had just about finished boarding the ground based vehicle.

With minutes until they reach the planet, Shepard using the Mako's radio orders Joker to bring the Normandy in for a combat drop to deploy the Mako and then to land the Normandy clear of any Geth presence. Within minutes the Normandy enters the atmosphere and the Mako is deployed; during the drop from the Normandy's flight altitude, the ground team has numerous thoughts passing through the minds.

Shepard focusing primarily on the mission at hand with Alenko along similar lines, while Williams steals a glance at Genray. Wrex and the Spartans just sit there thinking about the possible enemies ahead and Marine Team-1 checking there weapons. The only one thinking beyond the current environment is Garrus whom is trying to understand why they did not bring the Normandy in above the dig site where Doctor T'Soni is located. The sharp deceleration and thumping noise being the only indications that the Mako has touched down for those sitting in the passenger area.

Shepard immediately guns the accelerator lurching the Mako forward along the path that will take them to the dig site where Doctor T'Soni awaits rescue. During the first twenty minutes of their trip is quite in terms of combat, but Shepard is careful anyway due to a past experience when he and his team at the time encountered a Thresher Maw that wiped out his team on Akuze. As the Mako makes the next turn that will take them into a tunnel through the mountain a Geth cruiser flies over head on a course that will take them to the dig site.

Within the tunnel, Private Chambers makes note of and mentions that architecture of the tunnels appear to have Lantean influence in the design. The rest of the Star Forces personnel save for the Spartans pay closer attention to the tunnel walls and notice that at support columns there appears to be Lantean based lighting. Shepard pushes that aside for now and continues driving the Mako through the tunnel, but as they emerge from the tunnel an explosion rocks the vehicle. Checking the monitors the team discover that the tunnel exit is surrounded by Geth; Williams and Alenko quickly take control of the weapons arrays and open fire on the Geth as Shepard attempts to get the Mako clear.

Getting the Mako clear is harder that the crew believed when they ran into a group of Geth Armatures and Rocket Troopers that immediately open fire. With little options available Spartan 893 quickly grabs one of the weapons that was packed for the mission and hands it to Wrex, while she and 1537 which take one as well. With a silent nod between the three of them Wrex and 893 jump out of the Mako, quickly followed by 1537 who takes aim at the Rocket Troopers while Wrex and 893 aim for the Armatures. With the Spartan Cannons hoisted onto the their shoulders, the three charge up the weapons and fire; two of the three Armatures fall to the Phased Plasma beams while half of the Geth targeted by 1537 are destroyed by the explosive reaction of the Phased Plasma meeting the rock face behind them.

The remaining Geth are picked off by the Mako as Wrex and the Spartans climb back aboard to continue on to the dig site. Once back aboard Wrex "This is an interesting weapon, I wouldn't mind having one of my own." Turning to face 893, "You think I can take one after we deal with Saren; it would be helpful dealing with unwanted vermin if you know what I mean?" 893 shakes her head, while 1537 chuckles while saying "You can try, damned things are at least twenty years out of date and slow as hell, but they still pack one hell of punch when at full power."

This brought mixed reactions, while Shepard ignores the conversation in lieu of controlling the Mako, both Alenko and Garrus become slack jawed and Williams glares at the Krogan Battlemaster and Spartans. The idea that a weapon that is twenty years out of date but still obviously more advanced than anything seen in Citadel space just sits wrong with her, while Alenko and Garrus only nod numbly at the thought. Wroth taking a moment to let what 1537 say sink in, spoke up "Sorry Wrex, even through the Spartan Cannons are an old and out dated tech compared to the newer Spartan Lasers, it is still military tech and you are technically a civilian."

Wrex just laughs in response even as the Mako punches through a group of Geth at a small processing facility as they close in on their target. Within minutes of clearing the gates of the processing facility the Mako comes to a halt, with Shepard "Alright everyone, from here out we are on foot. Alenko, you and 1537 stay here with the Mako and cover our escape route." With that said the group pushes forward into the path leading into the dig site, sans Spartan 1537 and Alenko.

Williams watches as Shaper and his team move between rocks and the walls pressing themselves against the given object as much as possible. While Wrex and 893 follow suit for the most part given their size, Garrus, Shepard and Williams stare at the leap frog game being played out in front of them as they walk along with their weapons ready. As the group reaches the first corner, Genray holds his left fist in the air and the marines stop in their tracks; after a moment with his rifle pointed around the corner he holds up three fingers and then goes through a series of hand movements before stopping with two fingers extended.

Nodding his head, Shaper signals Shepard to join him where upon kneeling next to the Sergeant "Commander, we have three troopers and at least two snipers ahead in what could be defensive positions. I can have Collins take one of the snipers, but the moment she does the enemy will target the source and we will be pinned back." Shepard agreed, but if any of them walked past the corner they would be targeted by the Geth anyway and then they would easily be a man down while the Geth retain their advantage. Looking back for a moment Shepard notices that Garrus has a sniper rifle, turning back to Shaper "Is there anyplace along the wall beyond the corner that could shield someone from the Geth for a few moments to take out the second sniper?"

Turning back to face Genray, Shaper hand signals him for a description of the area immediately ahead. After a moment Genray hand signals back and Shaper turns back to Shepard "There is a small rock out cropping that can be used to shield another sniper and from the looks of it the rock wall on the other side will bottle neck the Geth that they try to take a shot at anyone using that spot." Shepard signaled both Garrus and Collins to join them, once both crouched by Shepard and Shaper "Okay you two, we have about five Geth ahead and it looks like two are snipers. Collins, Garrus I want you two to take them out and once their gone the rest of us will rush the remaining Geth after throwing a flash grenade to blind them."

On Shepard's order both moved into position with Garrus taking the out cropping and Collins taking Genray's position. Private Collins watched as Garrus tapped the controls to un-package his rifle and began to take aim, seeing him nearly ready Collins took her SRS 99D AM sniper rifle off her armor's magnetic backpack plate. Like the marine and ODST armors, the SRS 99D series sniper rifle designs were originally born from sci-fi but retained the twenty-first century tech levels to allow it to be believable; when the Lanteans appeared nearly three decades earlier, sci-fi became science fact for a lot of things. One such transformation was the sniper rifle that she now uses and had been trained with during her academy days.

With her rifle now set on the ground just rounding the corner and her HUD displaying the visual scope feed, all that remains is to target the Geth sniper. Just as the scope feed centers on her target, the HUD motion detector pings displaying an object relative of Garrus' position with a positive Z axis. Moving her rifle to allow the scope a new line of sight, another Geth is displayed taking aim; in a flash three rounds were fired. The first Garrus taking the head of his Geth target, the second and third nearly at the same time, with Collins firing an explosive round at her newly selected target as it fired on Garrus' former position. When the rounds each found their marks the first Geth was left with a large chunk of its head missing, the second causing a large enough explosion to not only put the Geth it hit into the scrap yard, but caused a small EM burst that hit the nearby Geth disrupting their network connections.

As Garrus pulled himself clear of the out cropping, he was thrown back with the sniper round finding purchase in his right shoulder cracking it open and damaging his kinetic barrier. As the events occurred, Shepard and the rest of the ground assault team moved around the corner to confront the Geth the remaining Geth sniper managed to get a shot off but only for it to deflect off of 893's armor. The pitched battle was short lived as the Geth following their network based threat determination, focused on 893 allowing for the team to remove the distracted enemy. During the short lived fight, the flash grenade provides itself useless against the mechanical opponents as they have no reason to attempt to shield their optics from the flash.

After the remaining Geth were destroyed Shepard turns to see Collins and Chambers assisting Garrus by providing medic using a small container with a nozzle slid into the breach of his armor. Looking at what is possibly the dig site entrance; Shepard turns back to the others "Garrus and Collins head back to the Mako, the rest of us will continue into the dig site." With the new orders the team splits off with Garrus and Private Collins returning to the Mako where Alenko and 1537 are and the rest heading into the dig site.

Reaching the entrance to the site, the team begins their descent into the underground dig in order to locate Doctor T'Soni and evacuate her from the planet. Descending at the rough forty-five degree angle for at least twenty meters, they come upon the catwalk leading to the Prothean ruins. As they approach the railing, two Geth make their presence known by opening fire on the Spartan and Krogan members but they are quickly dispatched. Making their way too the lift that will take them deeper into the dig, Genray lets out a sharp whistle as he peers over the railing to see how deep the cavern is; glancing back to the others "Sure don't want to fall off the catwalk with how deep this place is."

Ignoring the comment, Shepard orders everyone into the lift only to see that they would have to make at least two trips to get everyone down to the next level. Shaper looking around for a moment turns to Shepard "Commander, take a team down with you while the rest of us will defend this position. Need to make certain that we still have an exit once you found Doctor T'Soni after all and it is best that we hold here." Taking a thinking pose for a moment Shepard quickly agrees "Okay, since Wrex and 893 are our heavy hitters they will remain with you to secure our exit. I will take Williams and Chambers to find the doctor while you hold here." With that Shepard, Williams and Chambers enter the lift and descend further into the dig site, while the others setup their defenses in order to hold the exit.

The lift reaches the next level and as Shepard and company exit they fall under attack via Geth drones ascending from below. Chambers remains in the lift while Williams and Shepard spring out letting their kinetic barriers protect them from the rockets fire by the drones. As the last of the drones is destroyed, Chambers exits the lift with a deadpanned look on her face as if asking 'are you stupid or insane'. During the short fire fight, she had remained in the lift to use it as cover as she leaned out to fire on the drones; while at one point Shepard had to duck back into the lift to allow his kinetic barrier to recharge.

Once more ignoring a trans-galactic human, Shepard enters the next lift with Williams and Chambers following close behind. During this descent the lift comes to an abrupt stop just above the remains another catwalk; at his order Williams and Chambers force the lift door open with Shepard poking his head out to judge the distance from the lift to the catwalk. Going first Shepard lands with the metal at his feet groaning in protest, moving to the next piece they make their way down until they hear something.

Stopping what appears to be an intact catwalk they hear "Hello, can someone please help me?" Turning towards the obvious origin of the request, the team finds themselves facing an Asari floating in some sort of field on the other side of a kinetic barrier. Shepard stepping forward "Doctor T'Soni?" The Asari's reply is immediate with "Yes, I am so glad that you are here, the Geth and a Krogan appeared not even an hour ago. Obviously I did not take kindly to their presence so I activated this Prothean security field, but I must have entered the wrong command as now I am unable to move."

Turning to Chambers, Shepard finds that she is already kneeling beside the barrier with her hand on the side of her helmet apparently scanning for any way past. Turning back to Doctor T'Soni, "Doctor, do you know what the Geth want with you?" With a short glance downwards she answers "Perhaps it has to do with the Prothean Beacon that I have heard was recently discovered on your colony Eden Prime." Turning in time to see Williams about to speak, Shepard silently orders her to remain quite for the time being, but the silence is broken by Chambers with "Sorry Sir, but the field appears to be removed from any accessible networks. We need to find any way into the structure."

Looking around for any thing that can help, Shepard spots a mining laser below that might prove useful; turning back to Chambers "Did your scan so any other entrances below us with barriers?" Looking at Shepard for a moment and then turning back to the structure, Chambers looks downwards and panning from left to right. Taking her hand away from her helmet and looking at Shepard "Sir, there is another entrance below us and the barrier appears to be offline, but it is buried." With a smirk on his face Shepard leads Williams and Chambers down to the mining laser, while there as Chambers attempted to activate the laser another two Geth made their presence known only for Williams to introduce them to her idea an unfriendly greeting with the use of a rocket launcher.

With a little work Chambers activated the mining laser and was able to drill a hole clearing the debris from the lower entrance to allow them to reach Doctor T'Soni. Quickly moving into the structure and onto a platform they reach the Doctor surprising her as is called out "How, how were you able to get in?" Before any of the team could answer her question and entire area shook violently, Shepard moving over to the indicated controls released the security field. "Doctor T'Soni, looks like explanations will have to wait until we are safely on the Normandy." With a nod of agreement, Doctor T'Soni lead them back to the center where another lift is that will take them to the top of the structure and the entrance to the dig site.

As the lift reached the top of the structure the sounds of gun fire filled the air and the moment the lift came to a stop and the team reached the catwalk, they found Geth remains along with three marines betting on the fight happening before them. Wroth and Genray clearly betting on their favored to win with Genray "Fifty says that 893 will rip that Krogan s-o-b in half before Wrex can even get close." Obviously taking that as a challenge Wroth retorts "I'll see your fifty and put another thirty down saying that Wrex will smash that bastard's skull in and give it to 893 as a token of affection." Genray laughed and took Wroth's hand agreeing to the stakes of their bet.

Shepard could only sigh heavily in response to the two marines' antics while watching the Krogan Battlemaster and Spartan Super Soldier rip their way through a small army of Geth that had managed to fit into the top section of the dig. Behind him Chambers leaned over towards Williams and asked a quietly as possible if she wanted in on the betting action, while Doctor T'Soni looked at Shepard in a question stare. Managing to catch Shaper's attention without alerting the others around them, Shaper just nodded and moved towards them.

When close enough "Sorry Sir, when the Geth and their Krogan leader showed up it was just after the first quake. The Krogan mentioned something about might getting in and grabbing the Asari they are here for, but when he saw us the fighting started in earnest. Wrex and 893 decided to have a contest to see who could take out more Geth; suffocate to say the two of them are treating this whole thing like a date and told us to stay out of it. They have been destroying Geth left and right for the past five minutes now." With that said Shepard let out another heavy sigh, this one getting the attention of Wroth and Genray who both had the decency to look guilty about their actions.

As the next violent quake hit the area, Shepard opened is comm. to contact the Normandy, "Joker, we need you to get to our location for pickup. Be careful thou, there is more than likely a Geth ship nearby."

_Commander, we're already here; when Sergeant Alenko saw them, he called us in to take it out. It was just sitting there letting Geth out, easiest kill we have ever had._

From Shaper, Shepard heard him say something about that might be the reason why the flow of Geth stopped suddenly. Looking back to the Omni Tool "Joker make certain that the Mako is secured on board and get us out of here once we are on board." Not even waiting for Joker's acknowledgement, he shut down his Omni Tool and gave a hard look at Wroth and Genray before telling everyone to make for the exit.

Running past the Geth remains for the exit, they reached Wrex and 893 as the Spartan was hefting the enemy Krogan onto her shoulder. Wrex pointedly looking at her "So, what are you going to do with that?" With a shrug she replies "Maybe give it to this Krogan that has caught my eye for laying waste to a horde of Geth; he might make a good boyfriend." As both fall into step with the others as they past heading up the exit to reach the Normandy, Wrex glances towards Wroth and "Wroth, I said it before and I will say it again. Your people are definitely worth knowing in my book, to have such powerful and obviously attractive females like 893 here is a credit to your people."

No one said a word as they made their way to the Normandy, even after getting on board in time to see lava starting to flow out of the dig site and destroying everything in its path. The only thing that enters Shepard's mind is that with people like this between them and the Citadel Council, he is going to have an entire head of gray hair by the time they catch Saren. Without another word, he heads up to CIC to report the status of the mission to the Council but hopefully not get blamed for the destruction of the Therum Prothean ruins.

* * *

**Next Time: Truth's Light shining into the ExoGeni Darkness on Feros**

After leaving the Citadel to check out the Geth activity on the colony world of Feros, the Truth's Light comes across something that does not quite belong. Not only do they find a legion of Geth attacking the Feros colony, but one Geth appears to be fighting the rest. The team must now work beside a Geth that is different from the others, but high in orbit a Geth fleet exiting FTL comes into conflict with a ship much like Sovereign.

Who is this strange Geth that appears to have Reaper tech incorporated into its systems and what is the ship fighting to protect Feros colony from the advancing Geth Flight? Are they Friend or Foe and why is a plant the most important thing on Feros for ExoGeni Corporation?


End file.
